ought not to be done Lev. 4. 2 13 22 27. that is that they were offered for sins of ignorance against negative precepts But the Hebrew Doctors do generally confine them to those sins done ignorantly against negative precepts that if they had been done wittingly had deserved cutting off 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a a a R. Sol. in Levit. 4. A sin offering was not not offered saith Rabbi Solomon but for a matter which if wittingly done against a negative command deserved cutting off but being ignorantly done it required a sin offering And so the Talmudick Treatise Kerithuth when it had reckoned up the six and thirty offences against such precepts that bring under the liableness of being cut off it concludeth thus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 b b b Kerithuth per. 1. Any of these committed wilfully deserve cutting off but if ignorantly done they require a sin offering c c c Maym. in Shegag per. 1. And whosoever saith Maymony transgresseth ignorantly against any of the negative precepts in which there is an action for which men become liable to cutting off he is bound to bring a sin offering and it is an affirmative command that he offer a sin offering for his errour and every transgression for the doing of which wilfully a man deserves cutting off for the doing of it ignorantly he is to bring a sin offering Aben Ezra goeth yet a little further but for ought I find he goeth alone for he desineth a sin offering to be d d d Ab. Ezra in Lev. 1. for a sin of ignorance against a negative precept which if wilfully committed deserved cutting off or whipping In the addition of this last word whipping I find not the rest of his Nation to agree with him for divers offences against prohibitions of the Law fell under whipping that fell not under cutting off and the Jews do most unanimously apply a sin offering to a sin of ignorance only whose wilfulness had incurred cutting off And the reason of this their limitation is in regard of the nature of the transgression or offence for whereas e e e 〈…〉 they number 365 negative precepts according to the number of the days in the year yet do they bring the number of sin offerings f f f 〈…〉 only in reference to three and forty of them meeting those sins of ignorance only with sin offerings which were most near a kin to those of the bighest danger but that ignorance did mitigate and make the qualification It is true indeed that there are some sin offerings appointed by name which cannot exactly be brought under this predicament of which we are speaking as was the sin offering of Aaron upon his consecration Lev. 9. 2. the sin offering of the woman at her purification Lev. 12. 6. and of the Leper at his cleansing Lev. 14. 19. for we can hardly ascribe these as offered for some particular sin of ignorance against some negative precept the wilful violation of which had deserved cutting off But they seem rather to be offered that they might make sure work to meet with that danger or offence that it was possible they might lye under and not know of it and so they were very near the nature of trespass offerings as a sin offering is also called Lev. 5. 6. But where the Law doth give the rules for sin offerings it nameth not any particular offence but only this general that they were to be presented in reference to the ignorant offending against a negative command and therefore to reduce them to particulars it was most pertinent to allot them to that ignorant offending which if it had proved wilfulness had made the forest breach betwixt God and Man the reconciling of whom was the end of Sacrifice Let us take one or two examples for the better understanding of what hath been spoken and then we will look after the sin offerings in their several kinds It was a negative precept the wilful and witting violation of which deserved cutting off Thou shalt do no work on the seventh day g g g Id. in Sabbath per. 1. And what is a man liable to for working on the Sabbath If he did it of his own will presumptuously he is liable to cutting off and if witnesses and evidence of it came in he was to be stoned but if he did it ignorantly he was to bring the appointed sin offering when he knew what he had done And all along the Treatise of the Sabbath they are the words of Maymony wheresoever it is said he that doth such or such things is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Guilty it meaneth he is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 liable to cutting off and if there be witness and evidence he is liable to be stoned but if he did it ignorantly he is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 bound to bring a sin offering Another offence that deserved cutting off was going into Sanctuary in uncleanness which was contrary to that frequent prohibition that no unclean person should come there And if any unclean person did wittingly and presumptuously go in thither in his uncleanness he became liable to cutting off if witness came in that he had done this presumingly and knowingly he was to be whipt or mauled with the rebels heating as hath been observed and if he did it ignorantly he was to bring his offering which offering in something indeed differed from the sin offerings in other cases for whereas every one of them was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 an appointed sin offering of some beast or other this was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 h h h Kerithuth per. 1. an offering ascending or descending i i i Gloss. ibid. that is of a higher or lower value according to the persons ability that did offer it if he were rich he brought some Beast but if he were poor two Turtles or Pigeons or a tenth deal of flower yet was the rise or occasion of this his offering suitable to all the other By these examples may easily be apprehended the like proceeding in the rest of the six and thirty or three and forty for into so many the six and thirty do branch themselves but concerning the committing the thing wilfully and suffering for it or ignorantly and offering for it Now for the distinguishing of sin offerings they were either sin offerings of the whole Congregation or sin offerings of particular persons Lev. 4. 3 13 22 c. But when we speak of the sin offerings of the whole Congregation the words admit some scrupling whether it mean the whole body of the people or the Sanhedrin only who were their representatives And we must answer that it meaneth both For 1. There was the sin offering Goat which was offered on the day of expiation it was an offering for the whole Congregation Lev. 16. 15. the disposal of which we shall observe afterward and this we may take for the whole body of the people undividedly 2. There was the
Captain of our Salvation and such an one is he held out in this story and such an one is he offered to this combate by the Holy Ghost 1. That the work of the Redemption might begin to parallel the fall for both of them were with temptations 2. That Christ from the very first entrance into his function might be looked on as the subject of the promise Gen. 3. 15. That seed of the woman that shoul break the head of the Serpent in the end when he thus bruised him in the beginning 3. That this beginning of his Ministry might vindicate and glorifie his Ministry all along when the Prince of this world had come and found nothing in him And 4. that a greater than Adam in innocency might be acknowledged here for he by temptation had been overcom but this in temptation overcame Other reasons of Christ being tempted referring to men may be given diverse As 1. to shew that even the holiest of men cannot expect to be free from temptations 2. That Christ might teach us how to combate against the temptations of Satan namely with fasting prayer and the Word of God 3. To shew that we are to overcom through him who overcame temptations for us as he overcame death for us 4. For our assurance of help and succour in our trials since our Redeemer was tempted like unto us as Heb. 4. 15. See Aquin. part 3. quest 41. Art 1. Luke IV. ver 1. And Iesus being full of the Holy Ghost For the better understanding of these words there are two things very material to take into consideration The first is what need there was of Christs being now filled with the Holy Ghost when all the fulnese of the Godhead had dwelt in him hitherto And secondly in what the fulness of the Holy Ghost that was in Christ these gifts that were in him did differ from that fulness and from those that were in other men For the first it is to be observed 1. That by the term the Holy Ghost is to be understood the Prophetick gifts wherewithal Christ was filled for the preaching and publishing of the Gospel as the revealing of the will of God and working miracles The expression 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or the Holy Ghost is a phrase and manner of speech used by the Jews in their writings and very common and frequent there and from them must the sense of it be explained for from them it is taken and most commonly and constantly used in their sense in the New Testament Now the Jewish Authors do constantly mean by it the extraordinary gifts of the Spirit which he bestowed upon Prophets and Prophetick men enabling them for that employment unto which they were called As if we should go about to multiply examples from them to this purpose we might do it infinitely The Holy Ghost say they was one of the five things that were wanting in the second Temple Massecheth Ioma cap. 1. cited by R. Sol. and Kimchi on Hag. 1. 8. Thou hast shewed that the Holy Ghost dwelleth not on thee to know that I am not drunk Rasi on 1 Sam. 1. 13. The Holy Ghost was gone from Eli therefore prophecy came to Samuel D. Kimch on 1 Sam. 3. 2. The Holy Ghost was born in him from that day and forward and he uttered Psalms and Songs by the Holy Ghost that was born in him for under this general term the Spirit of the Lord is the Holy Ghost and the Spirit of power or strength understood Idem on 1 Sam. 16. 13. The Holy Ghost rested on the false Prophet Idem on 1 King 13. 20. Our Wisemen say before Elias was taken away the Holy Ghost was in Israel when he was taken away the Holy Ghost departed R. Sam. Lanjade on 2 Kings 2. In all which speeches and in divers others which might be produced it is apparent that the Jews by this phrase the Holy Ghost do constantly and continually intend Prophetick gifts wherewith men and women were indued either for the managing of some publique employment to which they were called or for the suiting to some singular and special occasion wherewithal they met And in this sense is the expression most constantly to be taken in the New Testament when it speaketh not of the third person in Trinity it self as Luke 1. 15 41 67. John 7. 3 9. Acts 2. 4. 8. 18. 10. 44. 13. 52. 19. 2. and in very many other places And so is it to be understood here that Christ being now to enter upon the publique Ministery of the Gospel and to act as the great Prophet of his Church and people he is at his baptism anointed and ever after filled with the gifts of the Holy Ghost befitting so great a work and befitting so great a Prophet Now 2. it is to be observed that these Prophetick gifts that the Holy Ghost bestowed upon some particular persons did really and very far differ from the grace of sanctification which he bestoweth upon all his Saints They might indeed sometimes be and very often they were in one and the same person but they were very far from being one and the same thing For 1. Prophetical gifts were sometimes in wicked and prophane men as in Balaam the false Prophet at Bethel Judas c. 2. These were given for the benefit of others rather than for his own that had them but sanctifying grace is given for his benefit chiefly that doth enjoy it 3. They did not make a man any whit the holier towards God but only the more able for some occasions amongst men So that by this expression Jesus being full of the Holy Ghost is not intended any addition of grace or sanctity which he had not before but the collation of Prophetick qualifications at the descent of the Holy Ghost upon him which he had not till then For though by the union of the humane nature to the Godhead that nature did partake of glorious and most excellent perfections arising and resulting from that union yet did it not partake of these gifts or perfections that we have in hand because these were not properly fruits of that union but of a donation And not things conducing to the satisfaction of God in the work of Redemption but to the satisfaction of men in his work of the Ministry The proper fruits of that union were the qualifying of the person of Christ so as that he should be absolutely without sin that he might exactly perform the Law and might be able to satisfie Gods justice and overcom death for these were the proper ends and reasons for which such an union was required but to work miracles to expound difficulties to heal diseases to teach divinity to foretel things to come and the like were not so properly the fruit of that union for even meer men have been enabled to do the same nor did they so directly tend to the most proper end of the incarnation namely the satisfaction of Gods justice
receive on the day of Pentecost p. 271. Then they receive a Commission to go to all Nations whereas before they were confined to the Jews p. 272. They were again filled with the Holy Ghost so that now they had a power to bestow the same upon others p. 277 278. This power belonged only to the Apostles which they gave only to such as were to be Ministers and Preachers of the Gospel p. 281. Some of the Apostles were Ministers of the Circumcision and others of the Uncircumcision having Agents under them to carry on that work and to shew their agreement and harmony therein p. 329 To three of them viz. Peter James and John Christ did shew himself in his greatest Power Glory and Combat above any of the others the reasons why p. 635. The Apostles could not ordain Apostles as they did other Men by laying on of Hands but by Lot which was an immediate Hand of Christ. p. 745. Apostles were an Order for ever unimitable in the Church and so not Predecessors to or Patterns of Bishops as the Popish Writers plead 787 789 Apparitions of Christ after his Resurrection were eight times particularized 734 735 Architriclinus what he was 547 Areopagus a great Court at Athens where Paul converted Dionysius one of the Bench. 295 Ariel and Harel what they signifie and how they differ 2034 2035. * Ark of Noah its Dimensions being vastly large together with the Partitions of it the creatures in it were without enmity c. p. 5 693. Ark of the Covenant what and how placed in the Temple p. 1086 1087. * The Motions and Stations of the Ark. 2060 to 2062 * Artaxerxes the same with Ahasuerosh a greater Prince than Darius c. 140 Arts Chaldean and curious what 820 Asaph a chief Singer in the Temple and his Sons under him 70 Ashes the way and manner of sprinkling them 981 982 Asmonean Family where it began 909 Asses white Asses were for Men of State and Princes to ride upon among the Israelites 48 50 Assyrian Monarchy its rise growth and end 113 114 Astrologer Wizzard or great Mathematician one that used the Chaldean and curious Arts were much the same 436 820. One of which was Thrasyllus the Intimate of Tiberius a strange Prediction of his 820 Astyages the same with Darius 135 Asuppim the Gates and House of it where and what 1057 1058 * Ave Maria being used as a Prayer shews how senseless Popery is 412 Augustus A Title for one that worthily administred in the Commonwealth 424 Ax as the Ax is laid to the root of the Tree c. after divers meanings is to be understood of the Judgments of God 459 460 B. BALAAM curseth Israels first and last enemy he went to his place signifies he went to Hell Page 37 Baptism It was used in the days of Jacob. p. 18. It was the way to admit Heathens into the Religion of the Jews and by it John admitted the Jews into another Religion than their own viz. the Gospel Religion p. 208 210 408. Many Generations before the times of Christ or the Baptist this was used for the admission of Proselytes into the Church both Men Women and Children p. 209 210 450 525 526. 527. proved out of Jewish Writers This shews why there is so little reason given in the New Testament for the Baptism of Infants because it was so ordinary in the Jewish Church before Christs time p. 210 525 526 527. proved out of Jewish Writers When the Sanhedrim send some Pharisees to question John about the authority by which he baptised they say not a word of Baptism it self that being no strange thing but of long use amongst them p. 212. Whether it may be administred by private men p. 217. Whether inconsistent with Preaching Paul saying I came not to baptize but to preach p. 217. There was three forms of Baptism Of John who baptized in the Name of the Messias then ready to come he not knowing for most of his course that Jesus of Nazareth was he p. 276. Of the Disciples who baptized into the Name of Jesus such as believed Jesus of Nazareth to be the Messias p. 277. Of the Disciples again among the Heathen who baptized them in the Name of the Father the Son and the Holy Ghost because there was no controversie about Jesus of Nazareth being the Messias among them p. 277. Believing gave admission to whole Housholds unto baptism p. 294. Baptism not to be administred twice none were rebaptized p. 298 299. Baptism was made a Badge or Mark of safety from that approaching vengeance that was a coming on the Jews and Jerusalem both by the Baptist and Peter p. 339. The difference of Baptism under the Law and under the Gospel p. 455. Confession of sins was after not before Baptism p. 457. It was vastly differing from Circumcision yet succeeded it with the reasons of both p. 465 c. It was practised among the Jews even from the first use of Circumcision proved from Scripture and Jewish Writers p. 465. 466. 526 527. The Baptism of John and that since used in the Christian Church were not differing at all except in the form of words p. 467. Baptizing with the Holy Ghost what p. 467 468. Why Christ who needed no cleansing being purity it self would be baptized eight reasons p. 472. Why John refused to admit Christ to baptism p. 472. Whether Women were baptized by John answered affirmatively p. 476. So Jacob admitted Females into the Church by Baptism p. 465 466. The time when Christ was baptized p. 476 477 478. the place where and manner how 478. As soon as any were baptized they used to come out of the water and pray p. 479. The Baptism of John tended to the manifesting of Christ two ways especially p. 530. Baptism is expressed by being born of water p. p. 571 572. Why Christ did not baptize p. 581. The Apostles were baptized by John the Baptist not by Jesus so that his Baptism and theirs were the same p. 581. What the manner of the baptizing of the Jews was before John Baptist came p. 583 584. How far the Baptist did imitate the Jews in their manner of baptizing p. 584. Dipping in Baptism not always practised in the beginning of the Gospel p. 584 585. The term Baptism is used to denote sharp sufferings yea Death it self 250 Barchochebas and Cochebas the same with Ben Coziba he called himself the Messias coyned mony with his own stamp tortured the Christians to make them deny Christ was at the Head of a most desperate Rebellion and reigned two years and an half 366 367 Barjesus commonly called Elymas the same in sence with Magus a Magical Jew who did with tricks and wonders go up and down confronting the Gospel 289 Barrenness or want of Children ascribed to the women throughout the Scripture 397. Marg. 408 Bathings When used and after what manner 941 Bath Kol a Voice pretended to be from Heaven to magnifie some of
Whosoever putteth away his wife let him give her a bill of Divorsement NOtice is to be taken how our Saviour passeth into these words namely by using the particle 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 But 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 But it hath been said This particle hath this Emphasis in this place that it whispers a silent objection which is answered in the following verse Christ had said Whosoever looks upon a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery already But the Jewish Lawyers said If any one sees a woman which he is delighted withal above his wife let him dismiss his wife and marry her Among the Chapters of Talmudical Doctrine we meet with none concerning which it is treated more largely and more to a punctilio than of Divorces and yet there the chief care is not so much of a just cause of it as of the manner and form of doing it To him that turns over the Book Gittim as also indeed the whole Seder Nashim that part of the Talmud that treats of women the diligence of the Masters about this matter will appear such that they seem to have dwelt not without some complacency upon this article above all others God indeed granted to that Nation a Law concerning Divorces Deut. XXIV 1. permitted only for the hardness of their hearts Mat. XIX 8. In which permission nevertheless they boast as though it were indulged them by more priviledg When God had established that fatal Law of punishing Adultery by death Deut. XXII for the terror of the people and for their avoiding of that sin the same merciful God foreseeing also how hard occasion being taken from this Law the issue of this might be to the women by reason of the roughness of the men lusting perhaps after other women and loathing their own wives he more graciously provided against such kind of wife-killing by a Law mitigating the former and allowed the putting away a wife in the same case concerning which that fatal Law was given namely in the case of Adultery So that that Law of Divorce in the exhibition of it implied their hearts to be hard and in the use of it they shewed them to be carnal And yet hear them thus boasting of that Law k k k k k k Hieros in Kiddushin fol. 158. 3. The Lord of Israel saith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that he hateth putting away Mal. II. 16. Through the whole Chapter saith R. Chananiah in the name of R. Phinâ—has he is called the Lord of Hosts but here of Israel that it might appear that God subscribed not his name to Divorces but only among the Israelites As if he should say To the Israelites I have granted the putting away of wives to the Gentiles I have not granted it R. Chaijah Rabbah saith Divorces are not granted to the Nations of the World Some of them interpreted this Law of Moses as by right they ought to interpret it of the case of Adultery only l l l l l l Gittin cap. 9. hal ult The School of Shammai said a wife is not to be divorced unless for filthiness that is Adultery only because it is said 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Because he hath found filthy nakedness in her that is Adultery m m m m m m Gemara â—b Rabh Papa said If he find not adultery in her what then Rabba answered When the merciful God revealed concerning him that corrupted a maid that it was not lawful for him to put her away in his whole life Deut. XXII 29. you are thence taught concerning the matter propounded that it is not lawful to put her away if he shall not find filthiness in his wiâ—e With the like honesty have some commented upon those words cited out of the Prophet 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 For he hateth putting away n n n n n n Ibid. R. Jochanan saith The putting away of a wife is odious Which others also have granted indeed of the first wife but not of those that a man took to himself over and above For this is approved among them for a Canon o o o o o o Maimon in Gerushin cap. 10. Let no man put away his first wife unless for adultery And p p p p p p Gittin in the place above R. Eliezer saith for the divorcing of the first wife even the Altar it self sheds tears Which Gloss they fetch from thence where it is said Let no man deal treacherously towards the wife of his youth Mal. II. 15. The Jews used Polygamy and the divorcing of their wives with one and the same license and this that they might have change and all for the sake of lust q q q q q q Maimon in 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 cap. 10 14. It is lawful say they to have many wives together even as many as you will but our wise men have decreed that no man have above four wives But they restrained this not so much out of some principles of chastity as that least a man being burdened with many wives might not be able to afford them food and clothing and due benevolence for thus they comment concerning this bridle of Polygamy For what causes they put away their wives there is no need to enquire for this they did for any cause of their own free will I. It is commanded to divorce a wise that is not of good behaviour and who is not modest as becomes a daughter of Israel So they speak in Maimonides and Gittin in the place above specified Where this also is added in the Gemarists R. Meir saith As men have their pleasures concerning their meat and their drink so also concerning their wives This man takes out a fly found in his cup and yet will not drink after such a manner did Papus ben Judah carry himself who as often as he went forth bolted the doers and shut in his wife Another takes out a fly found in his cup and drinks up his cup that he doth who sees his wife talking freely with her neighbours and kinsfolks and yet allows of it And there is another who if he find a fly in his basket eats it and this is the part of an evil man who sees his wife going out without a vail upon her head and with a bare neck and sees her washing in the baths where men are wont to wash and yet cares not for it whereas he is bound by the Law to put her away II. r r r r r r Maimonides in the place above If any man hate his wife let him put her away excepting only that wife that he first married In like manner R. Judah thus interprets that of the Prophet 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 If he hate her let him put her away Which sense some Versions dangerously enough have followed R. Solomon expresses the sense of that place thus It is commanded to put away ones wife if she obtain not favour in the eyes of her
the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 VERS IX 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Will he give him a stone g g g g g g De benefic lib. 2. cap. 7. HERE that of Seneca comes into my mind Verrucosus called a benefit roughly given from a hard man panem lapidosum stony bread VERS XII 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Whatsoever ye would that men should do unto you c. h h h h h h Bab. Schab fol. 31. 1. A Certain Gentile came to Shammai and said Make me a Proselyte that I may learn the whole Law standing upon one foot Shammai beat him with the staff that was in his hand He went to Hillel and he made him a Proselyte and said 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That which is odious to thy self do it not to thy neighbour for this is the whole Law VERS XIII 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Broad is the way IN these words concerning the broad and narrow way our Saviour seems to allude to the rules of the Jews among their Lawyers concerning the publick and private ways With whom a private way was four cubits in bredth a publick way was sixteen cubits See the Gloss in i i i i i i Cap. 2. hal 1. Peah VERS XIV 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Gate UNDER this phrase are very many things in religion exprest in the holy Scripture Gen. XXVIII 17. Psal. CXVIII 19 20. Mat. XVI 18 c. and also in the Jewish Writers The gate of repentance is mentioned by the Chaldee Paraphrast upon Jer. XXXIII 6. and the gate of prayers and the gate of tears k k k k k k Bab. Berac fol. 32. 2. Since the Temple was laid wast the gates of prayer were shut but the gates of tears were not shut 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Straight gate seems to be the Greek rendring of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Pishpesh a word very usual among the Talmudists 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 l l l l l l Tamid cap. 1. hal 3. With a key he opened the little door and out of Beth mokad the place of the fire hearth he entreth into the Court 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith the Aruch is a little door in the midst of a great door VERS XV. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 In sheeps cloathing NOT so much in woollen garments as in the very skins of sheep so that outwardly they might seem sheep but inwardly they were ravening Wolves Of the ravenousness of Wolves among the Jewes take these two examples besides others m m m m m m Taanith c. 3. hal 7. The Elders proclaimed a fast in their Cities upon this occasion because the Wolves had devoured two little children beyond Jordan n n n n n n Hieros Jom tobh fol. 60. 1. More than three hundred Sheep of the sons of Judah ben Shamoe were torn by wolves VERS XVI 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 By their fruits ye shall know them THAT is a Proverb not unlike it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 o o o o o o Bab. Berac fol. 48. 1. A Gourd a Gourd is known by its branch VERS XXIX 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 As one having authority and not as the Scribes IT is said with good reason in the Verse going before that the multitude were astonished at Christs doctrin for besides his divine truth depth and convincing power they had not before heard any discoursing with that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 authority that he did The Scribes borrowed credit to their doctrine from Traditions and the Fathers of them and no Sermon of any Scribe had any authority or value without 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Rabbins have a Tradition or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Wise men say or some Traditional Oracle of that nature Hillel the great taught truly and as the tradition was concerning a certain thing p p p p p p Hieros Pesachin fol. 33. 1. But although he discoursed of that matter all day long 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 They received not his doctrin until he said at last so I heard from Shemaia and Abtalion CHAP. VIII VERS II. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Thou canst make me clean THE doctrine in the law concerning Leprosy paints out very well the doctrine of sin I. It teacheth that no creature is so unclean by a touch as man Yea it may with good reason be asked whether any creature while it lived was unclean to the touch beside man That is often repeated in the Talmudists That he that takes a worm in his hand all the Waters of Jordan cannot wash him from his uncleanness that is while the worm is as yet in his hand or the Worm being cast away not until the time appoynted for such purification be expired But whether it is to be understood of a living or dead worm it is doubted not without cause since the Law treating of this matter speaketh only of those things that dyed of themselves See Levit. XI ver 31. Whosoever shall touch them when they be dead c. and ver 32. Upon whatsoever any of them when they are dead shall fall c. But whether he speaks of a living worm or a dead uncleanness followed by the touch of it for that day only For he shall be unclean saith the Law until the Evening but the carkas of a man being touched a weeks uncleanness followed See Num. XIX II. Among all the uncleannesses of men Leprosie was the greatest in as much as other uncleannesses separated the unclean person or rendred him unclean for a day or a week or a month but the leprosy perhaps for ever III. When the Leper was purified the leprosy was not healed but the poison of the disease being evaporated and the danger of the contagion gone the Leper was restored to the publick congregation Gehazi the Servant of Elisha was adjudged to perpetual leprosy and yet he was cleansed and conversed with the King 2 King VIII 5. cleansed not healed Thus under Justification and sanctification there remain still the seeds and silth of sin IV. He that was full of the leprosy was pronounced clean he that was otherwise was not Levit. XIII 12. If the leprosie shall cover the whole body from head to foot thou shalt pronounce him clean c. A law certainly to be wondred at Is he not clean till the whole body be infected and covered with the leprosy Nor shalt thou O sinner be made clean without the like condition Either acknowledg thy self all over leprous or thou shall not be cleansed VERS III. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Iesus touched him IT was indeed a wonder that when the leprosie was a creeping infection the Priest when he judged of it was not hurt with the infection It cannot be passed over without observation that Aaron being bound under the same guilt with Miriam bore not the same punishment for she was touched with leprosie he not Num. XII And also that Uzziah should be confuted concerning his
like in Kiddush e e e e e e Fol. 71. 1. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Elias comes to distinguish the unclean and purifie them c. When therefore they saw the Baptist bring in such an unusual rite by which he admitted the Israelites into a new rule of Religion they ask him by what authority he doth these things if he himself were not either the Messiah or Elias or one of the Prophets raised from the dead It is very well known that they expected the coming of Elias and that from the words of Mal. IV. 5. not rightly understood which mistake the Greek Version seems to patronize 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I will send you Elias the Teshbite which word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 they add of themselves in favour of their own Tradition which indeed is too frequent an usage in that Version to look so far asquint toward the Jewish Traditions as to do injury to the Sacred Text. VERS XXIX 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Lamb of God SAINT John alludes plainly to the Lamb of the daily Sacrifice 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which in shadow took away the sins of Israel I. It was commanded in the Law that he that offer'd the Sacrifice should lay his hand upon the head of the Sacrifice Levit. I. 4. III. 2. IV. 4 c. II. The reason of which usage was that he might as it were transfer his sins and guilt upon the head of the offering which is more especially evident in the scape-goat Levit. XVI 22. Hence Christ is said Himself to have born our sins in his own body on the tree I Pet. II. 24. as the offering upon the Altar was wont to do He was made by God a sin for us II Cor. V. 21. that is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Sacrifice for sin III. The same rite was us'd about the Lamb of the daily Sacrifice that was offer'd for all Israel The stationary men as they were called or the Substitutes of the people laying their hands upon the head of the Lamb. a a a a a a Taanith cap. 4. hal 2. To this therefore the words of the Baptist refer The Lamb of God that is the daily Sacrifice taketh away the sins of the world as the Sacrifice did for all Israel Behold here the true Lamb of God that taketh away the sins of the world VERS XXXVIII 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Where dwellest thou THE proper and most immediate sense of this is where dwellest or where lodgest thou But I could willingly render it as if it had been said Where dost thou keep thy Sabbath and from thence conjecture that day was the evening of the Sabbath For whereas it is said and they abode with him that day it would be a little hard to understand it of the day that was now almost gone and therefore we may suppose it meant of the following day for it is added 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 it was now the tenth hour It was about the middle of our November when these things fell out in Bethabarah as will easily appear to any one that will be accurate in calculating the times and that little that was left of that day was then the tenth hour It was then about Sun-set and as it were the entrance of a new day so that it might more properly have been said They abode with him that night rather than that day only the Evangelist seems to point out that they remain'd with him the next day which that it was the Sabbath I will not so much contend as not without some reason suppose b b b b b b Cesar. Comment lib. 4. Or Oppi de Bell. Alexand. Cesar duabus de causis c. Cesar for two reasons would not fight that day partly because he had no Souldiers in the Ships and partly because it was after the tenth hour of the day VERS XLI 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 He findeth his Brother SO c c c c c c Sanhedr fol. 30. 2. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Rab Nachman bar Isaac found him with Rab Honna and many such like expressions in the Talmudick Authors as also 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 we have found VERS XLII 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Son of Iona. I Do not see any reason why the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Joannes or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Joannas should be here put for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Jona or why any should contend as many do that it should be the same with 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Joannas I. In the third Chap. of St. Luke the name Joanan is sounded three ways in the Greek Pronunciation of it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Janna v. 24. so 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 amongst the Rabbins 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Joanna v. 27. and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Jonan v. 30. but never 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Jona II. Jona was a name amongst the Jews very commonly used and we meet with it frequently in the Talmudick Authors written 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Jonah why therefore should not Peter's father be allow'd the name of Jonah as well as that of John III. Especially when this Son of Jonah imitated the great Prophet of that name in this that both Preached to the Gentiles and both began their journey from Joppa 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which is by interpretation Peter Vulg. Qúod est si interpreteris Petra which is by interpretation a stone So Act. IX 26. Tabitha which being interpreted is Dorcas Beza Caprea a Goat But what do the holy Penmen of the Scriptures make Lexicons or play the School-masters that they should only teach that the Syriack word Cepha in the Greek language signifies 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a stone and Tabitha Dorcas that is a Goat No rather they teach what Greek proper names answer to those Syriack proper names for the Syriack proper name is here render'd into the Greek proper name and not an appellative into an appellative nor a proper name into an appellative But let the Vulgar have what it desires and be it so Thou shalt be called a Rock yet you will scarce grant that our Blessed Saviour should call Simon a rock in the direct and most ordinary sense There is no rock save our God II Sam. XXII 32. where the Greek Interpreters instead of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a rock have 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Creator Which word St. Peter himself makes use of I Pet. IV. 19. shewing who is that rock indeed There is a rock or stone of stumbling indeed as well as a foundation stone and this stone of stumbling hath St. Peter been made to the fall of many thousands not by any fault of his but theirs who through ignorance or frowardness or both will esteem him as a rock upon which the Church is built If therefore they will so pertinaciously adhere to that Version Et tu vocaberis Petra let it be render'd into English
verbatim to it The Jerusalem Gemarists give an instance of such a thing in Sanhedr fol. 20. col 3. Joseph the Maonite interpreted in the Synagogue in Tiberias these words Hear ye this all ye people Why do not ye labour in the Law have not I given the Sanhedrin to you for a gift And hearken O house of Israel Why do you not give the Sanhedrin the gift I appointed you at Sinai And hearken O house of the King for the judgment is to you I speak it to you but the judgment is to the Priests I will come and sit with them in judgment and end and destroy them out of this world So Christ in reading the Lesson out of the Prophet becomes his own Interpreter and Paraphrast both SECTION XVIII MATTH Chap. IV. Ver. 13 14 15 16 17. MARK Chap. I. Ver. 14 15. CHRIST at Capernaum in the coasts of Zebulon and Nepthali c. WHereas Matthew in the beginning of this Section telleth that Christ left Nazareth Luke in the end of the preceeding shews the reason why namely because he was in hazard of his life there and so the connexion is made plain In the coasts of Zebulon and Napthali captivity had first begun 2 King 15. 29. and there Christ first beginneth more publickly and evidently to preach the near approach of the Kingdom of Heaven and redemption In the first plantation of the Land after the captivity Galilee escaped from being Samaritan and was reserved for this happy priviledge of being the first scene of Christs preaching the Gospel And as that country was inhabited by a good part of the ten Tribes before their captivity so upon the return out of Babel in the ten tribes of Zorobabel and Ezra it may well be held to have been planted with some of the ten Tribes again For 1. Observe in Ezra 1. that there is a Proclamation from Cyrus that any of the blood of the Jews wheresoever within his dominions should have liberty to go up to Jerusalem ver 3 4 5 Now undoubtedly the ten Tribes were then residing within his dominions and it is harsh to conceive that they had all so far utterly forgot God and their country as none of them to desire to go to their own Land again when permitted 2. There is a summa totalis in Ezra 2. of fourty two thousand three hundred and threescore ver 64. that returned out of captivity upon that Proclamation and there are the number of several families reckoned as making up that sum whereas if the total of these particulars be summed up it reacheth not by sixteen thousand or thereabout to that number of forty two thousand three hundred and threescore Where then must we find those sixteen thousand since they arise not in the number of the families there named The families there named are of Juda and Benjamin and then certainly those sixteen thousand can hardly be imagined any other then of the ten Tribes And 3. Whereas it is apparent that the returned of Judea and Benjamin planted Judea whom can we imagin but some of the ten Tribes to have planted Galilee And hence their difference in language from the Jews of Judea and in several customs And hence the reducing of some after the captivity to the line of some of the ten Tribes as Hannah to the Tribe of Asher Luk. 2. 36. Ben Cobisin of the line of Ahab Talm. Jerus in Taanith fol. 68. col 1. And here is the first returning of the ten Tribes to be supposed and it carrieth fair probability that the most of the twelve Apostles and many of the rest of the Disciples that were of Christs most constant retinue were of the progeny of some of the ten Tribes returned SECTION XIX LUKE Chap. V from the beginning to Ver. 12. MATTH Chap. IV. Ver. 18 19 20 21 22. MARK Chap. I. Ver. 16 17 18 19 20. Peter and Andrew c. called to be fishers of men THe method and series is confirmed by the transition of Matthew and Mark but in the order of Luke there is some difficulty 1. He relateth the calling of these Disciples differently from the relation given by the other for they say Christ called Peter and Andrew as he walked by the sea side but he storieth their call when Christ was with them in the ship they say he called James and John at some distance beyond Peter and Andrew but he carrieth it as if he called them all together But this is not contrariety but for the more illustration they all speak the same truth but one helps to explain another The story at full in them all is thus As Jesus walked by the sea of Genezareth he saw two ships standing there the one whereof belonged to Peter and Andrew and the other to James and John All these men being partners had been fishing all night but had caught nothing and were now stepped down out of their ships to wash their nets Christ pressed with multitude on the shore entreth into Peters ship and thence teacheth the people And thence putting off a little into the main he helpeth Peter to a miraculous draught of fishes which was so unwieldy that he was glad to becken up James and John from the shore to come and help them The draught of fishes was got up and boated and then James and John return to the shore again and fall to mending their net which was rent at the helping at so great a draught Peter seeing what was done adoreth Christ and he and Andrew being yet at sea are called by him for fishers of men and bringing their ship to shore they leave all and follow him Christ and they coasting a little further along the shore came to James and John and he calleth them And thus lieth the story at the full 2. A second scruple in the order of Luke is this that he hath laid the two miracles of casting out a Devil in Capernaum Synagogue and the healing of Peters mother in law before the calling of these Disciples which apparently by this Evangelist were after But the reason hereof may be conceived to be especially this In Chap. 4. ver 30 31. he had related that Jesus escaping from Nazaret came down to Capernaum and being now in the mention of his being there he recordeth these two miracles that he did there though not at that very time he hath brought them in having an eye in that his relation rather to the place then to the time And so we shall observe elsewhere that the very mention of a place doth sometimes occasion these holy penmen to produce stories out of their proper time to affix them to that their proper place These Disciples hitherto were only as private men following Christ and here is the first time that they are but mentioned to the Ministerial function to be fishers of men How then did they baptize before John 3. 22. with John 4. 2. And the starting of this question calleth to remembrance that saying of
Christ from beyond Jordan into Judea again He staies two days after he had received the message in the same place where the messenger found him and in the story of this Section he is set forward And being now upon his last journey to Jerusalem he foretelleth to his Disciples what should become of him there They followed him with fear and amazement before foreseeing that he went upon his own danger and yet when he had spoken the thing out to them at the full they understood him not SECTION LXVIII MATTH Chap. XX. from Ver. 20. to Ver. 29. MARK Chap. X. from Ver. 35. to Ver. 46. The request of Zebedees sons They are told of their Martyrdom THe order is plain of it self and yet the connexion is somewhat strange for in the last words before Christ had foretold of his death yet the Sons of Zebedee here desire to sit on his right hand and left in his Kingdom Galatius resolves it thus Discipuli in errore aliquando fuerunt credentes Christum illico post resurrectionem terreni regni sceptro potiturum unde quidam eorum super caeteros primatum ambientes c. The Disciples sometimes were mistaken conceiving that Christ presently after his resurrection should obtain the scepter of an earthly Kingdom whereupon some of them ambitious of priority above the rest desired to sit on his right hand and left c. lib. 4. cap. 1. It is true indeed that the Jewish Nation and the Disciples with them erred in judging about Messias his Kingdom Act. 1. but they erred as far also about Messias his Resurrection till experience had informed them better Therefore it cannot well be imagined that the Wife and Sons of Zebedee thought of Christs Resurrection in this their request but conceived of his temporal Kingdom according to the notions of the rest of the Nation about it What therefore our Saviour had spoken instantly before of his being scourged crucified killed and Rising again they understood in some figurative sense or other but the Evangelists plainly tell us they understood it not in the sense that he spake it It may be his naming these two The sons of thunder gave them some blind incouragement to such a request Christ foretels his own death and their suffering Martyrdom under the title of Baptism in which sense the Apostle also useth the word 1 Cor. 15. 29. The Jewish baptizings or dippings in their purifications was a very sharp piece of Religion when in frost and snow and wind and weather they must over head and ears in cold water from which the phrase was used to signifie death and the bitterest sufferings The Jerusalem Gemarists do tell us that the Women of Galilee grew barren by reason of the cold in their purifyings R. Aha in the name of Tanchum bar R. Chaia saith In the days of R. Joshua ben Levi they sought to abolish this dipping because of the women of Galilee which were made barren by reason of the cold R. Joshua ben Levi saith Do ye seek to abolish a thing that fenceth Israel from transgression c. Beracoth fol. 6. col 3. SECTION LXIX LUKE Chap. XVIII Ver. 35. to the end MATTH Chap. XX. from Ver. 29. to the end MARK Chap. X. from Ver. 46. to the end Blind healed CHRIST in his journey from beyond Jordan to Bethany for the raising of Lazarus passeth through Jericho and he healeth one blind man as he entreth into Jericho of which Luke speaketh and another as he goeth out of which the other two Matthew indeed speaketh of two healed as he came out of Jericho comprehending it may be the story of him that was healed on the other side of the Town and this together in one story for briefness sake Or if there were two healed on this side of the Town Mark only mentions one because he rather aimeth at shewing of the manner or kind of the miracle then at the number as we have observed the like before at Sect. 39. SECTION LXX LUKE Chap. XIX from the beginning to Ver. 29. Zaccheus a Publican converted THe order lies plain in ver 1. Christ was passed through Jericho before he met with Zaccheus c. Rabban Jochanan ben Zaccai hath made the name Zaccai or Zaccheus renowned in Jewish writings his Father Zaccai might very well be now alive and for any difference of the times might well enough be the Zaccheus before us but that some other circumstances do contradict it Whosoever this man was it is observable that though his name Zaccheus speak him a Jew yet Christ reputes him not a Child of Abraham till he believe ver 19. Ver. 11. They thought that the Kingdom of Heaven should immediately appear Observe this this they had learned from Dan. 9. where the time is so punctually determined that they that looked for the consolation of Israel could not but observe it and they that observed could not but see it now accomplished SECTION LXXI JOHN Chap. XI from Ver. 17. to the end of the Chapter Lazarus raised Caiaphas Prophecieth NOw is Christ come up to Bethany Whether 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 mentioned by Talm. Bab. Pasachin fol. 53. facie 1. where they speak of the figs of Bethhene and the dates of Tubni be the same with this Bethany we shall not dispute here Both a Town and some space of ground about it was called by this name Bethany As he had staied in the place where he was when he heard of Lazarus sickness purposely that he might die before he came to him that God might be the more glorified by his raising ver 15. so did he make sure to stay long enough after he was dead before he came that the glory might be the more He had been four days dead ver 39. Compare with this these sayings of the Jews Maym. in Gerushin per. ult If one look upon a dead man within three days after his death he may know him but after three days his visage is changed Jerus in Moed Katon fol. 82. col 2. Three days the Soul flies about the body as if thinking to return to it but after it sees the visage of the countenance changed it leaves it and gets it gone Upon the miracle wrought the Jews seek to kill Jesus and Lazarus both whereupon Jesus goeth to a City called Ephraim ver 54. Talm. Bab. in Menachoth fol. 85. fac 1. Juchne and Mamre Jannes and Jambres said to Moses Dost thou bring straw to Ephraim Gloss. Ibi. Juchne and Mamre were the chief Sorcerers of Egypt they when Moses began to do miracles thought he had done them by magick they said Dost thou bring straw to Ephraim Ephraim was a place that exceedingly aboundeth with corn and darest thou bring Corn thither meaning Dost thou bring Sorceries into Egypt that abounds so with Sorceries Aruch in 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ephraim was a City in the Land of Israel where there was abundance of Corn. Where is the chiefest provision for Offerings The chiefest
punishments but they had of corporal namely of scourging to fourty stripes save one Hence it is that Christ foretels his Disciples In the Synagogues you shall be beaten Mark 13. 9. and hence had Paul his five scourgings 2 Cor. 11. 24. So that in every Synagogue there were Elders that ruled in Civil affairs and Elders that laboured in the Word and Doctrine And all things well considered it may not be so monstrous as it seems to some to say it might very well be so in those times in Christian Congregations For since as it might be shewed that Christ and his Apostles in platforming of the model of Christian Churches in those times did keep very close to the platform of the Synagogues and since the Romans in those times made no difference betwixt Jews in Judaism and Jews that were turned Christians nor betwixt those Religions for as yet there was no persecution raised against Christianity why might not Christian Congregations have and exercise that double Function of Ministry and Magistracy in them as well as the Jewish Synagogues And if that much controverted place 1 Tim. 5. 17. should be interpreted according to such a sense it were neither irrational nor improbable Nor to interpret Paul speaking to such a tenour here Only his appointing of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the less esteemed in the Church to be appointed for that work is of some scruple what if it allude to 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 A Committee of private men Of which there is frequent mention among the Hebrew Doctors See Maymon in 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 fol. 253. col 1. 3. It was the old Jewish garb when they went to pray to hide head and face with a vail to betoken their ashamedness and confusion of face wherewithal they appeared before God And hence is the conjunction of these two words so common in their Writings 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 He vailed himself and prayed And this for a current rule The wise men and their schollars may not pray unless they be vailed Maymon in Tephillah per. 5. To which let us add that of Sueton. in Vitell. cap. 2. Lucius Vitellius saith he had an excellent faculty in flattering he first set afoot the worshipping of Caius Caesar for a God when returning out of Syria he durst not go to him but with his head vailed and then turning himself about he fell prostrate Again it was the custom of the Jewish women to go vailed or their faces covered whensoever they went into publick A woman saith Maymony may not go into publick 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 if she have not a vail on In 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 per. 24. And this the Talmudists call 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Jewish Law and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The garb of modesty Chetubboth per. 7. and Alphes ibid. Where they say that that those women transgress the Jewish Law that go forth unvailed or that spin in the streets or that talk with every man Now in this Church of Corinth the men retained the Jewish custom that they prayed vailed or with their head and face covered but the women transgressed their Jewish Law for they went unvailed and bare faced into the publick Congregation and their reason was as it seemeth by the Apostles discourse because they in regard of their beauty and comly feature needed less to be ashamed before God in his worship then the men The Apostle reproves both and argues that if the man pray vailed who is the Image and glory of God then much more should the woman who is but the glory of the man But he cries down the mans praying vailed as dishonouring his head and exhorts that the woman have power on her head because of the Angels cap. 11. 10. The word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which we observed instantly before out of Maymony signified a womans vail doth also signifie power or dominion and accordingly the Apostle speaketh Let the Woman have power on her head But what means he by Because of the Angels I should answer Because of the Devils for these he had called Angels also a few Chapters before viz. Chap. 6. 3. And his words may be construed to this sense that Women should not expose their faces openly in the Congregation lest the Devil make a bait of their beauty and thereby intangle the eyes and hearts of the men who should be then better imployed then gazing and longing after beauty There are that by Angels understood the Ministers and interpret it that Women should be vailed lest the Ministers eyes should be intangled by their faces which exposition if it be admitted it may speak for the admission of that also which we give which provides for the eyes of the whole congregation as well as of the Ministers 4. In the same eleventh Chapter he also blameth their disorder in receiving the Sacrament of the Lords Supper in the height of their heats and contestations Wherein they did not only not discern the Lords body a Symbole and tye of communion but they even transgressed that rule now Christians which those of them that were Jews would not have done in their Judaism It was then a Canon current and binding amongst them that none should eat and drink in their Synagogues and none should sleep Jerus in Megilla fol. 74. col 1. Maym. in Tephillah per. 11. and Gloss. in Maym. in Shabb. 30. But now as they ate and drank the Bread and the Cup in the Sacrament in their Churches and that warrantably so did they also presume unwarrantably to eat their own common Suppers there and that only in defiance one of another the rich to outface the poor and one party another with their good commons some banketing and feasting to the full whilst others sat hungry by and looked on See how 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ver 21. signifies in the LXX Gen. 43. 34. Cant. 5. 1. Thus did they eat and drink judgement to themselves in the Sacrament whilst they would receive the symbole of communion and yet shew such signs and evidences of disunion at the very instant And the Lord accordingly overtook some of them with evident judgements weakness sickness and death avenging at once upon them the indignity done to his Sacrament and the indignity done to their brethren Much like surfeting Nabals case and end 5. And as the people were thus irregular in this part of worship in their publick assemblies so were their Ministers faulty in others namely about the managing of spiritual gifts there The pretence to the Spirit where indeed it was not hath alwaies been the great usherer in of all errour and delusion And to this the very unbelieving Jews pretended and often backed their pretences with magical impostures and of this the Apostle speaks Chap. 12. 3. No man speaking by the Spirit of God as these men took on them to do can call Jesus accursed as they called him And on the other hand some that had spiritual gifts indeed failed in
went thither he saith not at all And now to take up what we have to observe upon these things that have been spoken 1. It is true indeed as Tacitus witnesseth that Pallas the brother of Felix who had been Claudius his great favorite and so Nero's also in Claudius time did wane and decrease somewhat in his favour in a very short time after his entrance into his reign but he was not utterly laid flat and out at all till after Poppaea came into favour and amorousness who forwarded the death of Agrippina and the bringing down of those that were of her party as Pallas was Therefore the power of Pallas with the Emperour seemeth to be expired in Nero's fifth year in which Agrippina was slain And by this account we cannot extend Felix his escape for his brother Pallas his sake beyond Nero's fourth Year For considering Poppaeas prevalency with the Emperour when once she became his Paramour and considering her detestation of Agrippina and her faction of which Pallas was the chief we cannot cast Felix his discharge for Pallas his sake beyond Nero's fourth 2. Paul lay two years prisoner at Caesarea under Felix Acts 24. 27. After two years Portius Festus came into Felix room Many are the conjectures about these two years Baronius saith it was Expleto biennio Neronis Magister Historiae Scholasticae saith it was Biennium ab accusatione Felicis a Judaeis A Lapide cares not to think that Biennium hoc inchoandum a praefectura Felicis in Judaea nam ante illud praefuerat Trachonitidi Batanaeae Gaulonitidi c. But it is most proper to hold that these two years mean the time of Pauls being a prisoner under Felix from the time of his apprehension under Lysias the chief Captain till Felix his going out of his Government and so it is held by Beda Beza Salmeron Onuphrius and others And this is so proper and suitable to the intent and discourse of Luke that it needeth no illustration or proof of it and it is most agreeable to the Scriptures manner of accounting in all other places These two things then being thus concluded on it will follow that Pauls apprehension was in Nero's second and Felix went out of Office in Nero's fourth before Poppaea was yet got into her potency And the accounting of Pauls two years imprisonment under Felix to be thus At Pentecost in Nero's second he is apprehended and at Pentecost in Nero's third he had been a year prisoner and at Pentecost in Nero's fourth his two years are up and that spring it was that Felix went out of Office and went to Rome to make his answer and Pallas his brother not yet utterly out of favour makes his peace And now let us draw up the Chronology of Nero's time to the full according to these evidences and as referreth to our occasion CHRIST 55 NERO. 1 Paul at Ephesus Goeth to Macedonia Creete Greece to Macedonia again and wintreth in Nicopolis CHRIST 56 NERO. 2 Paul at Macedonia till Easter then goeth up to Jerusalem and is apprehended at Pentecost and from that time till the year go out is a prisoner CHRIST 57 NERO. 3 Paul a prisoner all this year under Felix CHRIST 58 NERO. 4 Felix removed Festus cometh in Paul shipped towards Rome but wintreth by the way Poppaea in Nero's eye and becomes his Minion CHRIST 59 NERO. 5 Festus Governour of Judea Paul after wintering in his journey cometh to Rome and this is the first year of his imprisonment there Nero killeth his Mother Agrippina CHRIST 60 NERO. 6 Festus Governour of Judea Pauls second years imprisonment at Rome CHRIST 61 NERO. 7 Festus Governour of Judea CHRIST 62 NERO. 8 Festus Governour of Judea Nero marrieth Poppaea CHRIST 63 NERO. 9 Festus Governour It may be Albinus came in sometime this year and then was James the less slain this year CHRIST 64 NERO. 10 Albinus Governour of Judea CHRIST 65 NERO. 11 Florus Governour of Judea CHRIST 66 NERO. 12 CHRIST 67 NERO. 13 Florus Governour of Judea The Wars begin CHRIST 68 NERO. 14 Nero dieth having reigned 13. years and 8. months ACTS Chap. XXI from Ver 17. to the end of the Chapter PAUL cometh to Jerusalem at the feast of Pentecost when the City was now full of conconflux to that festival He resorteth instantly to James the residentiary Apostle of the Circumcision for holding correspondency sake and there he shews him the manner and fruit of his Ministry among the Gentiles Which both by James and the Elders that were with him is well approved of as to the thing it self but they certifie him of what complaints they heard from the Jews against him for crying down the rites of Moses especially Circumcision That thou teachest all the Jews which are among the Gentiles to forsake Moses saying that they ought not to circumcise their Children ver 21. Now because thousands of the Jews which believed were yet zealous of the Law this gave much offence But did Paul teach thus or not No doubt he did and it behoved him so to do nor does nor can James except against the Doctrine for though it is true that he and Paul and the other Apostles permitted compliance with some of the Jewish rites for peace sake for a while as there is an example in this very place yea Paul himself circumcised Timothy upon that reason yet the use of Circumcision as these that stood upon it used it was utterly inconsistent with the Gospel Hear this Apostles Doctrine Behold I Paul say unto you that if you be circumcised Christ shall profit you nothing For I testifie again to every man that is circumcised that he is a debtor to the whole Law Gal. 5. 2. A converted Jew would have his Son circumcised Paul asks him a reason what can he answer but it looks after some justification by it as their own Authors speak their thoughts He that is circumcised is perfect And He that is circumcised shall not go to Gehinnom And I said unto thee in thy blood live Ezek. 16. 6. This is the blood of Circumcision c. Tanchum in Gen. 17. 18 c. They looked indeed upon Circumcision as an admission into the Covenant and thereupon the Father of the Child at his Circumcision constantly used these words Blessed be thou O Lord our God who hast sanctified us by his Commandments and commanded us to bring the Child into the Covenant of our Father Abraham And they that stood by said As thou hast brought him into the Covenant so bring him into the Law and into the Bridechamber Jerus in Beracoth fol. 13. col 1. But withall they looked upon this Covenant as a Covenant of works for as we observed before they reputed Abraham himself so justified Good cause therefore had Paul to stand out against the convert Jews Circumcising their Children as whereby the Doctrine of Justification by faith was utterly enervated and made of no effect And here by the way let us conceive we
the Nation even ever since the death of Zachary and Malachy but is now begun to be restored to speak of the great Prophet near at hand the Holy Ghost was upon him 26. And g g g g g g 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 This word is used again in this sense Mat. 2. 12 22. Act. 10. 22. Heb. 11. 7. and by the LXX 1 King 18. 27. and in another sense Act. 11. 26. it was revealed to him by the Holy Ghost that he should not see death before he had seen the Lord Christ. 27. And he came by the Spirit into the Temple and when the Parents brought in the Child Iesus to do for him after the custom of the Law 28. Then took he him up in his arms and blessed God and said 29. Lord now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace according to thy word 30. For mine eyes have seen * thy salvation 31. Which thou hast prepared before the face of all people 32. A light to lighten the Gentiles and the glory of thy people Israel 33. And Joseph and his Mother marvelled at those things which were spoken of him 34. And Simeon blessed them and said unto Mary his Mother Behold this child is set for the fall and rising again of many in Israel and for a sign which shall be spoken against 35. Yea a sword shall pierce through thy own soul also that the thoughts of many hearts may be revealed 36. And there was one h h h h h h Compare 1 Sam. 1. 2. Anna a Prophetess the daughter of i i i i i i In Hebrew it would be written Penuel as Gen. 32. Phanuel of the Tribe of Aser she was of a great age and had lived with an husband seven years from her Virginity 37. And she was a Widow of about fourscore and four years which departed not from the Temple but served God with fasting and prayer night and day 38. And she coming in at that instant gave thanks likewise unto the Lord and spake of him to all them that looked for redemption in Ierusalem 39. And when they had performed all things according to the Law of the Lord they returned into Galilee to their own City Nazareth Reason of the Order THE dependence of the beginning of this Section upon the end of that that went before doth even prove and confirm it self For after the story of the birth of Christs forerunner and the relation of what happened and befel at that time what could be expected to come next in order but the birth of Christ himself Especially since none of the Evangelists mention any thing that came between Harmony and Explanation Ships shall come from the coasts of Chittim and shall afflict Ashur and shall afflict Heber Numb 24. 24. THAT by Chittim is meant Italy or the Romans it is not only the general opinion of the Jews as may be seen in their Targums and in other writers but of the most Christians also yea of the Romanists themselves whom the latter part of the verse doth so nearly pinch As see their vulgar Latine and Lyranus upon the place This Prophesie was fulfilled when the power of Rome first set her foot upon the neck of the Hebrews by the conquest of Pompey but especially when she tyrannized over Christ the chief child of Eber even before and at his birth as in this story but chiefly in condemning him to death as in the story of his passion As Jacob had before told that the Jews at Messias his coming should be under the Subjection of a Forain Nation so doth Balaam in this Prophesie shew who that Nation should be And this the more ancient and more honest Jews took notice of and resolved that Christ should come in the time of the Roman Empire and near to the destruction of the Temple by it So in the Talmud they question What is the name of Messias Some answer Hhevara Leprous and he sitteth among the poor in the gates of Rome carrying their sicknesses Sanhedrin The Chaldee Paraphrast likewise on Esa. 11. 4. readeth thus With the speech of his lips shall Messias slay Romulus the wicked one or the wicked Roman shewing at once his opinion of Christs coming in the time of the Romans and also of the Romans being 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the wicked one after a singular manner Augustus was the second Emperor of the Romans or rather the first that was intire Monarch for Julius Caesar his Uncle and Predecessor had hardly injoyed any Monarchical government at all nor did Augustus of many years neither till he had outed Lepidus and overcome Anthony which were copartners with him in the dominion His name Augustus was given to him for his worthy administration of the Common-wealth For before-time he was called a a a a a a Dion Caepias and b b b b b b Sueton. Thurinus and Octavianus and had like to have been named Romulus as a second founder of the City but by the advice of Munacius Plancus he was named Augustus which importeth Sacredness and reverence § That all the world should be Taxed To so vast an extent was the Roman Empire now grown from Parthia to England and they two also included that it was a world rather then one dominion And so did their Virgil Ovid Florus own Authors boast it in those times as Caesar Regit omnia terris Divisum imperium cum Jove Totum circumspicit orbem Terrarum orbis imperium and such like speeches usual among them both in Poesie and Prose This huge and unweldy body of so large and spacious a dominion Augustus had now reduced to the healthful temper of peace and quietness which is the more remarkable by how much the more wars had been more frequent and more bloody but a little before For never had that Empire felt so great distemper within it self as it had done of latter times in the civil wars betwixt Sylla and Marius betwixt Julius and Pompey betwixt Augustus and Antony not to mention the continual wars that it had abroad It had not been very long before this time that the Evangelist speaketh of when both Rome it self and the rest of the world was at that pitiful plight that Polybius speaketh of That the Romans were forced to send to Ptolomy 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 cap. 2. King of Egypt for a supply of corn because there was a great scarcity and dearth among them For in Italy all their corn was destroyed even to the gates of Rome by the Souldiers and abroad there was no help nor supply to be had there being wars in all parts of the world But now is there an universal Peace not only in the Roman Empire so that the Temple of Janus was shut up which it never used to be when any wars at all were stirring but if we will believe Crantzius even in those parts and Countries where the Roman power had not yet set her foot as Denmark Norway
and inrolled Vid. Suid. in voâ—e 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 into the service of the Temple their names being entred there and the name of their father To this custom the Evangelist seemeth to refer when he calleth John the Son of Zacharias in this place and at this time when he was to enter upon his Ministerial function which though he did not at the Temple as others used to do but had another kind of employment laid upon him by the Word of the Lord coming to him in the Wilderness in the place of his converse yet as had he been there he must have been inrolled and registred thus John the Son of Zacharias began his Ministration at such a time or to this purpose so doth the Holy Ghost inrol him here at his entrance into this his Ministry of another kind the word of the Lord came to John the son of Zacharias And the like passage we may observe in the same Evangelist concerning our Saviour at his being baptized and when he also entred upon his function Matth. 3. ver 1. Preaching in the Wilderness of Iudea That is in the Cities and Towns in the wilderness as Josh. 15. 61 62. 1 Sam. 23. 14. 24. some of which were probably within the territories and under the command of Hebron the place where John was born for there is mention of the Cities of Hebron 2 Sam. 2. 3. Mark 1. ver 4. John did baptize in the Wilderness It is the most likely that John began to preach in the place where he was born and from thence went to other places as he saw occasion and the Spirit moved him And indeed Hebron it self was in a manner a City of the Wilderness as well as the others mentioned though there be no such expression concerning it as is of them and if those words Luke 2. So He was in the deserts till the day of his shewing unto Israel were interpreted concerning his being in Hebron the interpretation might very well be justified though to avoid cavill and offence we have expounded it of places which the Scripture calleth Deserts or Wildernesses in express terms However be it in Hebron or out of Hebron that John was educated conversed and began to preach certain it is that he did the last of these in some Cities of the Wilderness not far from Hebron and if it be said that he baptized also in these Cities where he preached and as yet was not gone down to Jordan till Jerusalem and all Judea heard of him and came to be baptized and then he went thither for the conveniency of water I suppose it crosseth nothing either in the History or Mystery and it averreth no more concerning John now then we shall find him doing hereafter namely baptizing in other waters besides Jordan And indeed how can it rationally be understood otherwise then that John baptized first in these Cities and Towns before multitude of company drew him down unto the River For first it cannot be conceived that he walked or stood in the open fields near Jordan and there began to preach but that he betook himself to Towns or Cities where was concourse of people Secondly it can as little be conceived that when any people in this or that City embraced his Doctrine and desired to be baptized that he should bring them to the River which was sometime far off or delay them till all the multitude should meet him there together unless it could be shewed that the water of Jordan was only allowed to be baptized in and no other the contrary to which we shall seâ—â—non The Story therefore and progress of his Ministery and baptizing out of the three Evangelists may be compiled thus That first he came preaching in the Wilderness of Judea in the Towns and Cities that were there about the place of his education That he baptized there those that were converted by his preaching and that desired to be baptized by him That he went abroad from thence up and down all the Country round about Jordan and when his converts and the concourse were now grown numerous he baptized them in Jordan because there was water enough as John 3. 23. § And preach the baptism of Repentance The Evangelist useth this title or epithet in opposition to Circumcision and baptizing of Proselytes which had been the way and door of admission in to the Church before They might very fitly be called the Circumcision and baptism of perfomance as this the baptism of repentance For whosoever received circumcision was ingaged by it to the performance of the whole Law Gal. 5. 2. And the like was every Proselyte ingaged that received Baptism But this baptism of John or the baptism in the Christian Church is clean of another nature For whereas those two challenged of every one that went through those doors into the Church that they should stand debtors to the whole Law and be obliged to a legal righteousness our baptism requireth a clean contrary thing namely that we should be obliged to repentance in regard that the performance of the Law is a thing that is to us impossible and that we should be buried with Christ in his death and seek after his righteousness seeing that we have none of our own Hence appeareth clearly first a reason why the baptism of John is called the beginning of the Gospel for it opened a door and gave an inlet into the Church upon other terms then had ever been before And secondly that baptism belongeth to Children though it be the baptism of repentance and they know not what repentance means For it requireth not their repentance at their receiving of the Sacrament when they stand but in the door or entry of the Church but it ingageth them to repentance for the time to come or when they being now entred into the Church shall come to the use of reason and knowledg of the ingagement And so was it with the children that were circumcised for they when they underwent that Sacrament undertook obedience to the whole Law and yet they knew not what either obedience or the Law meant But that undertaking was what they were to do when they came to the years of knowledge and apprehension Matth. 3. Verse 2. And saying Repent ye for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand The Phrase the Kingdom of Heaven which is so frequently and commonly used in the Gospel is taken from Dan. 2. 44. and 7. 14. And it meaneth the spiritual Kingdom of Christ in and under the Gospel as it is published and preached unto all Nations For though the phrase be generally and truely understood to mean the preaching of the Gospel yet doth it most properly and naturally signifie the preaching of the Gospel to the Gentiles or among all Nations as might be shewed by the signification of the word Heaven by the manner of speech here used that it is at hand and so again Mat. 4. 17. when the Gospel was now Preached already by the
so long and not given to the World before Adam Enoch Noah Eber c. were not circumcised because to them a fixed and setled place for the Church to reside together was not designed but when such a one is designed to Abraham then circumcision is given also The Land of Canaan was bequeathed to Sem by his father Noah the occasion was because Cham and his Son Canaan derided Noahs nakedness as he lay asleep in the midst of his Tent when therefore that Land is to be setled upon the right heirs of Sem to which God in the Prophetick spirit of Noah intended it a seal and an assurance thereof is given in that member which had been derided by Canaan to his loss of that Land and to his perpetual slavery This was a main reason why Males alone were circumcised and why in that member because a male alone and that member in him was so derided Other reasons of the institution of the Ceremony and only for masculines and in that part might concur for instruction such as are given by Lumbard Aquinas Biel Lyra and others but that they were not of the nature or essence of the Sacrament and that this forementioned was the vigor and spirit of it may be concluded by these two things First That Circumcision concerned not the children of Israel only but the whole seed of Abraham For those children of his by his Concubines that lived in Arabia as Ismaelites Dedanites Medianites Midianites Shuhites Amalekites and the rest were circumcised as well as Israel in Palestina Those Countries whither Abraham had sent them to inhabite were once in the possession of Canaanites till he obtained them by conquest of the four Kings Gen. 14. and thither he sendeth them with the seal of Circumcision upon them which gave them interest in the Land there as well as Isaac had elswhere Abraham taught his children and his houshold after him to keep the way of the Lord Gen. 18. 19. which though this off-spring of his in Arabia did not long in other things yet in circumcision it did So that from hence may result the observation of another end and reason of the institution of this Ceremony namely for distinction not of Israel from other Nations as Lyranus would have it but of the seed of Abraham from all other people Secondly Howsoever all the Israelites dwelling before the coming of our Saviour out of the Land of Canaan as both of the Babylonian and Grecian dispersion used Cicumcision in Heathens Lands and used it lawfully yet it was because their claim and interest to the Land of Canaan did still continue nay this was one reason why it held up some store of years after Christ his coming and ascension but when Jerusalem was destroyed and their lease of that Land of promise either expired or forfeited or both then did this seal of it fall and come to ruine also and might not lawfully be used ever after and when they must for ever relinquish the Land they must for ever also relinquish this seal or Ceremony that had assured it This well considered will cause us also to observe First That the interest of Israel in the holy Land began to shake when baptism came to shoulder out Circumcision Secondly That John most properly preached much of the Kingdom of Heaven for their earthly one began to cease when baptism began to extinguish Circumcision As Circumcision it self had relation to the inheritance of the Land of the Canaanites so the fixed time for the administration of it namely the eighth day seemeth also to have some aim and respect to the same thing For seven nations were in that Land which the Children of Abraham were to subdue and dwell in their stead Canaanites Hittites Hivites Perizzites Girgashites Amorites and Jebusites Deut. 7. 1. Josh. 3. 10. In correspondency to this number of seven Nations that were to be subdued Jericho the first field fought in that Land is compassed seven days and seven times the seventh day And in like answerableness every child of Abraham for seven days was like the children of those seven Nations but on the eighth day he was to receive circumcision the pledge of that interest and claim that he had in that Land which those seven Nations had usurped This then was the ground-work and Original of that Sacrament that every Son of Abraham might bear in his body the seal of the inheritance of the Land of promise and the badge of distinction from all other people and that this visible sign might make him strive after the invisible grace which it sealed the inheritance of Heaven and walking as the peculiar of the Lord. From which appropriated and restrictive ends of the Rite the necessity of the changing of it at the coming of Christ doth plainly appear for when there was to be no more distinction betwixt the children of Abraham and other people and no one land more peculiarized then another but of every Land and Nation he that feareth God and worketh righteousness is accepted of him that badge of appropriation and seal of singularity must either clean come to nothing or become unnecessary Now that baptism did succeed in the stead thereof some reasons may be given As first because the Sacraments of the New Testament were to be gentle and easie in stead of the smart and burdensom ones of the Law Secondly Because God would comply with men even in their own common custom of washing children when they are newly born Ezek. 16. 4. 9. and turn the common to a sacred use thereby to catch and win them the more But thirdly this one main reason may serve for all namely the near correspondency that is between the Sacrament and the thing signified and the full significancy that the element beareth of the grace that it signeth forth To which fourthly might be added that baptism took place in the Christian Church to fulfil the types and predictions that had gone before of it under Moses Law and before As in the flood and Ark 1 Pet. 3. 21. in the passage through the red Sea and Jordan 1 Cor. 10. 2. in the purifications and sprinklings at the Sanctuary But especially in four remarkable particulars was this fore-signified and typed out in a special manner First In Jacobs admission of the preserved Sichemites to his family and communion Gen. 35. 2. And Jacob said to his houshold and to all that were with him Put away the strange Gods that are among you and be clean and change your garments Wherein he injoyneth them three things for their admission to his Church 1. To relinquish their idolatry 2. To wash or baptize their bodies for so must the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Make your selves clean be understood and so it is well rendred by Aben Ezra Especially 3. Since he giveth order for the changing of their garments All three containing the cleansing of their minds bodies and cloaths And there observe first that when Circumcision in the
he do paraphrase it thus According as I by an humble submission desire to be baptized by thee so it becometh us because we are sent of God the Father to call men away from all unrighteousness and to teach the people to fulfill and perform in work whatsoever is right omitting nothing be it never so little which we know to be agreable to the will of God Therefore he importeth not that by the receiving of baptism all righteousness is fulfilled but that by them that are Masters and Teachers of all righteousness nothing is to be passed over which is right although they be not bound thereto by necessity and though the thing it self seem never so small Which exposition though it be good and sound in regard of the truth contained in it yet seemeth it not to be punctuall and seasonable for this place For whereas the very marrow and pith of it lyeth in this that Christ and John being teachers of the people must practice themselves what they teach others to practice and therefore must Christ be baptized for example to others let the Reader judge whether the inference be good by this that John himself was never baptized and consequently whether the application of such a sense to these words be fitting and agreeable Sixthly Chemnitius yet goeth nearer the text and the mark and bringeth the word Righteousness to reflect upon men explaining it thus that since Christ came to conferr and apply righteousness to men and accordingly to sanctifie every thing and means that might conduce to convey the same unto them therefore would he thus consecrate baptism by his own being baptized and give vigor to it to be a seale and strengthener of righteousness and grace begun and in this sense he saith that it becometh him to fulfill all righteousness or every thing whereby the righteousness of man may be forwarded and promoted and because John was the Minister of Baptism therefore in the word us he joyneth him also in the fulfilling with him To this purpopose he and far more largely coming as close to the mark as any we meet with and yet if I judge aright not so close as to hit it in these two respects First in that he seemeth to hold and so also do many others with him that Christs performance of the several parts of righteousness personally in himself was requisite to the sanctifying of such things to others whereas his very institution of any such a thing giveth validity sufficient to it without his own actual example As in this very thing in hand concerning baptism if Christ instituted that in the hand of John for a Sacrament to continue in his Church for ever I cannot see what vertue vigor or efficacy his being baptized by John added to it more than his institution of it before had done save only for the more sensible reverence of it in the eyes of the People Secondly and chiefly because it is harsh and bold to conceive that Christ in the performance of any thing that might tend to mans justification should take a man to be a sharer and co-worker in such equality as the words thus and us do make the Baptist. By righteousness therefore in this place may rather be understood the equity and justice of the Law and Christs fufilling of the same Not the moral for that opinion we refused before but the other parts of it which were either Prophetical or figurative and tipical Not denying his fulfilling the moral Law neither for that he performed to a tittle being without the least taint of sin either in thought word or deed but rather illustrating and setting forth his performance of that the more in that he was also so punctutual to fulfill the other parts of the Law which were less material And to this exposition of righteousness namely for the equity of the Ceremonial or typical Law not only the matter or thing in hand it self but even every word also that is in this clause do give their consent and confirmation For first if we look upon the Ceremonial Law it self and the reason why it was given we shall find that it was neither so exact and exquisite in regard of it's injunctions nor so strict or necessary to be performed in it self according to the Letter as it was in regard of its significancy of good things to come the force and vertue of it consisting not so much in its very verbal precepts and corporal observances as in its representative and typical predictions and fore-shewing of some better things to come thereafter And howsoever those Rites and Ceremonies had their obedience in the practices of the Jews yet their equity and very intent indeed they had not but in the fulfilling of Christ. Secondly if we look also upon baptism which was the matter now in agitation and the baptism of Christ also how they were both fully and plainly prefigured under legal Rites and Ceremonious observances was shewed before Thirdly it was requisite that Christ should fulfill the Ceremonial Law as well as the moral in some kind of necessity though not as much for the one as for the other For as the Moral was a Law of Faith so also was the Ceremonial a Law of hope as the judicial was also of Charity In the Moral Law it was shewed to man what he was to do but withall he saw by the same Law his own disability and impossibility of performing what was to be done The sight of this driveth man to lay hold of Christ that performed that Law for him and thus the Law though it be according to the letter a message of death yet in the spirit it is a doctrine of Faith unto life The Jew being thus entred by the moral Law into the School of Faith then came in the Ceremonial and was as an usher of hope for by those rites and legal observations the memory of Christs coming was continually kept fresh and the eye and expectation and the fruit and application of his performance of the moral Law for the good of men dayly read in those typical and shadowed lectures As therefore as it was absolutely necessary that Christ should fulfil the moral Law in regard of all men so was it respectively necessary that he should answer and accomplish the Ceremonial in regard of the Jew For if the outward observance thereof were for nothing so much as to lead his eye and expectation to Christ and the very life and equity thereof were included in him how necessary was it that for the sake of that people and for confirmation both to them and all others that he was Christ that was to come that he should fulfill that part of the Law as well as the other At the least how fitting And so he saith in the place in hand Thus it becometh us to fulfill all the equity of the Ceremonial Law Now the Ceremony to which our Saviour looketh in these words was the washing of the Priests in water when
that I may preach there also for therefore came I forth 39. And he preached in their Synagogues throughout all Galilee and cast out Devils St. LUKE Chap. IV. Vers. 31. AND he came down to Capernaum a City of Galilee and taught them on the Sabbath days 32. And they were astonished at his doctrine for his word was with power 33. And in the Synagogue there was a man which had a Spirit of an unclean Devil and cryed out with a loud voice 34. Saying Let us alone what have we to do with thee thou Iesus of Nazareth Art thou come to destroy us I know who thou art The holy one of God 35. And Iesus rebuked him saying * * * * * * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Be musselled as the word is used 1 Tim. 5. 18. the emphasis of which word sheweth that it was not a bare command of silence that Christ gave him but that that command had such power went with it that it cast a mussel upon the mouth of Satan that he could not speak more Hold thy peace and come out of him And when the Devil had thrown him in the midst he came out of him and hurt him not 36. And they were all amazed and spake among themselves saying What a word is this For with authority and power he commandeth the unclean Spirits and they come out 37. And the fame of him went out into every place of the Country round about 38. And he arose out of the Synagogue and entered into Simons house and Simons wives mother was taken with a great Fever and they besought him for her 39. And he stood over her and rebuked the Fever and it lest her And immediately she arose and ministred unto them 40. Now when the Sun was setting all they that had any sick with divers diseases brought them unto him and he laid his hands on every one of them and healed them 41. And Devils also came out of many crying and saying Thou art Christ the Son of God And he rebuking them suffered them not to speak for they knew that he was Christ. 42. And when it was day he departed and went into a desert place and the people sought him and came unto him and stayed him that he should not depart from them 43. And he said unto them I must preach the Kingdom of God to other Cities also for therefore am I sent 44. And he preached in the Synagogues of Galilee Reason of the Order THE juncture of the two stories contained in this Section is so clear from the transition of Mark and Luke from the one story to the other that nothing needeth to be said more of that and the subsequence of the former story of the two to that that is contained in the former Section namely about the calling of the Disciples is apparently enough proved by the entrance of Mark into this story when he saith They that is Christ and his new called Disciples as his method shews it is to be understood entred into Capernaum c. which thing we had occasion to observe also in the proof of the order of the former Section All the difficulty therefore about the order of this is about Matthews placing the story of the healing of Peters Mother in law He hath laid it after the Sermon in the Mount after the healing of the Leper and after the healing of the Centurions Servant whereas it is evident enough by the other Evangelists that it was before any of these whichsoever was first But the reason of his order may be observed to be this In chap. 4. 25. he had said that Jesus went about all Galilee teaching in their Synagogues and preaching the Gospel of the Kingdom and healing all maner of sickness Here are two heads that the Evangelist hath before him to insist upon and to give the relation of and these are the Doctrine of Christ and his miracles He first beginneth with his doctrine and so layeth down the Sermon in the Mount and having done with that Doctrinal relation he beginneth with the story of his miracles And first he telleth of the healing of the Leper which was the first miracle he wrought in his perambulation of Galilee then he relateth the healing of the Centurions Servant which was the first miracle he wrought after his Sermon in the Mount and being in mention of Capernaum where the Centurions Servant was healed he also speaketh of other miracles done in the same Town though not at the same time and that was the healing of Peters mother in Law and others that were brought to him of several diseases And this manner of Method or flitting of stories from their proper time and place into other times and places of his Gospel upon such like reasons and occasions as this we shall find to be no strange thing with Matthew as we go along but exceeding usual and very common Harmony and Explanation Mark 1. vers 22. He taught as one having authority and not as the Scribes THE Scribes of whom there is so frequent mention in the Gospel were the learned of the Nation that taught the People and expounded the Law Therefore he that in Matth. 22. 35. is styled a Lawyer in Matth. 12. 28. is called a Scribe And Pharisees and Doctors Luke 5. v. 17. are called Pharisees and Scribes ver 21. And in this sense doth the Chaldee Paraphrast very often use the word Scribe to translate that that in the Original is a Prophet meaning a Teacher as Esay 9. 5. The Scribe that teacheth lies he is the taile 1 Sam. 10. 10 11. A company of Scribes met him c. And when they saw that he was praising God among the Scribes c. They said Is Saul also among the Scribes c. In this sense our Saviour calleth some of his Ministers Scribes Matth. 23. 34. that is Teachers The distinction of the Scribes into several ranks we shall observe within a few leaves but take we them in what rank we will or all of their ranks together we shall find a vast difference betwixt the teaching of Christ and the teaching of any or all these Scribes in these particulars 1. The Scribes taught nothing but traditions what this or that or the other Doctor or Sanhedrin in former time had taught and determined what Hillel Shammai Baba ben Bota Rabban Simeon or Gamaliel or others their great learned men had asserted or denied and how they had stated this and the other question and how they had concluded in this or that resolution so that their whole teaching was but traditions of their Fathers and learned predecessors Gal. 1. 14. Mat. 15. 6. Hence are those Phrases and passages so common in their Talmuds 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 It is a Tradition and our Doctors have thus delivered 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The wise men have thus determined c. that almost every line speaks such language But our Saviour taught in the evidence and demonstration of a Prophet
Law of which persons and of which Law these two things are to be taken notice of 1. That all those that are named single in this succession were the Heads or Presidents of the Sanhedrin and where they are named double or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 paires the first named of the two was Nasi or President and the second named was Ab beth din or Vice-president 2. That this Cabbalah or traditional Law whose conveyance they thus pretended from Moses might not be disputed as concerning the truth or certainty of it though it received in every generation some illustration and practical Gloss for the laying out of its latitude and extent They that fixed these positive practical senses upon it were the Elders of the great Sanhedrin concluding thereupon in the Councel and commenting this traditional Law into particular Laws and Ordinances as rules to the nation whereby to walk and the Sanhedrin of every generation was adding something in this kind or other And so they hâ—ld That the great Sanhedrin at Jerusalem was the foundation of the traditional Law and pillars of instruction and from them decrees and judgements went out unto all Israel And whosoever believed Moses and his Law was bound to rest and lean upon them for the matters of the Law Maym. in Mamrim per. 1. Now the way or manner of their legislative determining upon this unwritten Law was thus 1. The general rule by which they went to work was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 To make a hedge to the Law that men should not break in upon it to transgress it And this was a special ground and rise and a specious colour for all their traditions for they pretending to make constitutions to fence the Law from violation and to raise the observance of it the higher they brought in inventions and fancies of their own brains for Laws and so made the Law indeed nothing worth Take a patern of one or two of their hedges that they made to this purpose The written Law forbad Thou shalt not seeth a kid in her mothers milk Now to make sure as they pretended that this should not be broken in upon they fenced it with this tradition Thou shalt not seeth any flesh whatsoever in any milk whatsoever All things that were appointed to be eaten the same day the command taught till the dawning of the next morning If so why do the wise men say but till midnight namely to keep men far enough from trangressing Beracoth per. 1. And such another hedge they made to the times in that story that is mentioned by Tanchumah fol. 37. A man in the time of the persecution in the days of the Greeks rode upon a horse on the Sabbath day and they brought him before the Sanhedrin and they stoned him not because it was fit to do so but because of the times it was necessary to do so 2. This then being the ground upon which they went to work with an aime to this hedge as they pretended in all their constitutions they hammered their Cabbalah or unwritten Law into these three parts or forms 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Constitutions Decrees and Customes or practices vid. Maym. in Mamrim per. 1 2. I shall not be curious to give the exquisite difference of these three in this place they were in a few words Laws which they hewed out of their Cabbalah injoyning some things to be done or forbidding others or prescribing the manner of doing We shall take up one example or two to this purpose It is a command to pray every day as it said Ye shall serve the Lord your God They learned by Tradition that this service is prayer because it is said Ye shall serve him with all your heart The wise men say What service is that that is with the heart It is prayer Now there is no number of prayers appointed by the Law nor no fixed time for prayer appointed by the Law nor no obligation to this prayer set down in the Law that is no mention of persons tied to it Maym. in Tephillah per. 1. Therefore the Sanhedrin in several generations made Canons and constitutions to decide and determine upon all these particulars as their own reason and emergencies did lead them and give occasion As in one generation they prescribed such and such times for morning and evening prayer In process of time they found these times allotted to be too strait therefore the Sanhedrin of another generation did give inlargement as they thought good And so concerning the number of prayers to be said dayly one Sanhedrin appointed so many but time and experience found afterwards that these did not answer such or such an occasion as it seems was not observed when they were appointed therefore the Sanhedrin of another generation thought good to add more and more still as occasions unobserved before did emerge and so the number of their dayly prayers grew at last to be eighteen And in the days of Rabban Gamaliel saith my Author last cited 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Hereticks increased in Israel he meaneth those that from Judaism turned to Christianity and they vexed Israel and perswaded them to turn from their Religion He seeing this to be a matter of more import than any thing else stood up he and his Sanhedrin and appointed another prayer in which there was a Petition to God to destroy those Hereticks and this he set among the prayers and ordained it to be in every ones month and so all the dayly prayers were ninteen ibid. per. 2. Sect. IV. The Scribes and Doctors Thus was the State Religion of the Jews and thus stated and setled The ground-work was pretended traditions from Moses expounding the written Law delivered from hand to hand in the Sanhedrins of several congregations the superstructure was legislative and practical senses made hereupon and determined for the use of the people by the Sanhedrin Now they that had to deal in these determinations were called The Scribes and those were divided into four ranks 1. The Nasi and Ab deth din that is President and Vice-president who were the special Treasurers of the Cabbalah which they pretended did descend from Moses 2. The whole Sanhedrin it self which made their Canons and constitutions out of this Cabbalah and did impose them upon the people 3. Those men of the Sanhedrin or others that kept Divinity Schools and read publick Lectures in explication of these traditions as Hillel Shammai Gamaliel Tyrannus or Turnus Acts 22. 3. 19. 9. c. And 4. Those that expounded these Laws as the publick preachers in their Synagogues According to which several acceptations the word Scribe is to be construed in the New Testament sutable to the scope of the place and to the occasion whereupon the word is used As 1. in that division of the Sanhedrin into chief Priests and Scribes and Elders Mat. 26. 3. the Scribes are here peculiarly to be understood either for the President and Vice-president the Receivers and
all appearing exceeding rare ever since the death of the last Prophets or thereabout And upon this reason I cannot but hold that this miraculous virtue was but of a later date because miracles and Angels had not been so conspicuous among them till near Christs coming Vers. 5. A certain man which had an infirmity 38. years Our Saviour is pleased to choose out for his cure a man and malady of the longest languishing and of the greatest unlikelihood of recovery If we run back these eight and thirty years to the first beginning of his infirmity we shall find that he was entred into this his disease seven years and an half before Christ was born for Christ was now compleat thirty years old and an half and it may be his disease was as old as was this virtue of Bethesda waters It began upon him immediately after the Temple was finished and completed by Herod as it will appear to him that will calculate and compute the times Now I should assoon date this healing virtue of Bethesda from about those times as any times I can think upon For as the providence of God did bring on and usher in the coming of the Messias when it drew near by several dispensations and degrees so the bringing of the Temple to the highest glory that ever it must have but only that the King of glory came into it and the restoring of Angelical and miraculous administrations were not the least of those dispensations But be it how it will whether the mans disease were as old as the pools virtue or no it was so old as doubtless the oldest in all the pack and as to glorifie the power of Christ most singularly in the healing of it Vers. 6. He saith unto him Wilt thou be made whole Christ doth not question this as doubting of his desire but to stir up his faith and expectation His lying and waiting there so long did resolve the question That he would be made whole but the greater question was Whether he had faith to be healed as Acts 14. 7. and that our Saviour puts to trial by this interrogation Vers. 8. Iesus saith unto him Rise take up thy bed and walk Here is a question also not unjustly moved Why would Christ injoyn him to carry his bed on the Sabbath day It was contrary to the letter of the Law Jer. 17. 21 22. Bear no burden on the Sabbath day c. It was extreamly contrary to their Traditions For bringing a thing out and in from one place to another was a work and one of the special works forbidden to be done on the Sabbath day Mayim in Shab per. 12. And he that carryeth any thing on the Sabbath in his right hand or left or in his bosom or upon his shoulder he is guilty Talm. in Sab. per. 10. And it was dangerous to bring him either to whipping or to suffer death The most general answer that is given is that Christ would have him hereby to shew that he was perfectly and entirely healed when he that could not stir before is able now to carry his bed and so by this action at once he gives a publick testimony of the benefit received and an evident demonstration of the perfectness of the cure But both these might have been done abundantly only by his walking sound and well seeing that he could not walk nor stir of so long before A man that had been so diseased so long a space and had lain at these waters so great a time for him now to walk strongly and well would shew the benefit received and the cure done as well as walking with his bed on his back There was therefore more in this command of Christ than what did barely refer to the publication of the miracle and that may be apprehended to have been partly in respect of the man and partly in respect of the day In respect of the man it was to trie his faith and obedience whether upon the command of Christ he durst and would venture upon so hazardous an action as to carry his bed on the Sabbath day which might prove death or sore beating to him and he relies upon the word of him that commanded and casts off fear and does it And to this sense his own words do construe the command when the Jews question him upon the fact He that made me whole gave me warrant to do it for he bad me and said Take up thy bed and walk He whose power was able for such a cure his word was warrant for such an action And as our Saviour stirs up his faith in his question before Wilt thou be made whole so he tries what it is in this command Take up thy bed and carry it home for so we must construe that Christ ment by walking from the like expression Mark 2. 9. with vers 11. In respect of the day it was to shew Christs power over the Sabbath And as in healing of the palsick man Mark 2. 9. he would not only shew his power over the disease but also over sin and so forgave it So it pleased him in this passage to shew his power over the Sabbath to dispence with it and to dispose of it as he thought good as he shewed his command over the malady that he cured And here is the first apparent sign toward the shaking and alteration of the Sabbath in regard of the day that we meet withall and indeed a greater we hardly meet with till the the alteration of the day came To heal diseases and to pluck off ears of corn for necessary repast on the Sabbath day had their warrant even in the Law it self and in all reason but to enjoin this man to carry his bed on that day and to bear it home whereas the bed might very well have lain there till the Sabbath was over and his home was no one knows how far off certainly it sheweth that he intended to shew his authority over the Sabbath and to try the mans faith and obedience in a singular manner It was easie to foresee how offensive and unpleasing this would be to the Jews for it stuck with them a long time after Joh. 7. 23. and how dangerous it might prove to the man himself and yet he purposely puts him upon it that he might hereby assert his own divine power and God-head as it appeareth by his arguing for it when they cavil at him all along the Chapter Even the same power that could warrant Abraham to sacrifice his own son and Joshua to march about Jericho on the Sabbath day Vers. 14. Afterward Iesus findeth him in the Temple c. The Faith and Obedience of the man upon Christs command though it were of so nice consequence do argue to us that his appearance at the Temple was to render his thanks for the great benefit he had received The poor wretch had hardly been at this Temple for eight and thirty years together the date of Israels wandring
Cains and his desert of punishment proportionable for Cain had slain but one man and but the body but he by his evil example had killed old and young and their very souls and therefore he maketh his complaint to his two wives that had brought him to it CHAP. V. A Chronicle of 1556 years and all the years are reckoned compleat but only Noahs five hundreth year in vers 32. Vers. 3. Seth born in Original sin the Father of all men in the new world after the flood Numb 24. 17. Vers. 23. Enoch liveth as many years as be days in a year Those that lived nearer the flood lived the longer unmarried because they would not generate many children for the water Vers. 29. Noah a comforter because in him liberty should be given to the World to eat flesh CHAP. VI. In the general corruption of the World Noah the eighth person in descent from Enoch in whose time profaneness began as 2 Pet. 2. 5. Escapeth the abominations and desolation of the times CHAP. VII VIII IX The flood the Beasts in the Ark live without enmity which sheweth how the words Gen. 3. 15. about enmity with the Serpent are to be understood the Serpent and Noah are now friends each to other this is alluded to Esay 11. 6 7. Noah is in the Ark just a compleat and exact year of the Sun but reckon'd in the Text by the Lunary Months Universal darkness all the forty days rain The door of the Ark under water The Ark draweth water eleven cubits The waters when they came to abate while they lay above the Mountains fell but one Cubit in four days but far faster afterward After their coming out of the Ark for a whole half year together Noah and his family and all the Creatures live upon provision that was still in the Ark for they came out just upon the beginning of Winter when there was neither grass corn nor fruits till another spring The forbidding to eat flesh with the blood condemneth the Doctrine of Transubstantiation CHAP. X XI Seventy Nations dispersed from Babel but not seventy Languages the fifteen named in Act. 2. were enough to confound the work and they may very well be supposed to have been the whole number Sem as he standeth in the front of the Genealogy of the new world hath neither Father nor Mother named nor beginning of days nor end of life Nahors life is shortned for Idolatry CHAP. XII Abraham at 75 years old receiveth the promise and cometh into Canaan and just so many years did Sem live after Abrahams coming thither and so might well be Melchizedeck in Chap. 14. Vers. 6 7. Abraham buildeth an Altar near if not upon Mount Gerizim the hill of blessing and vers 8. Another Altar he buildeth near unto if not upon Mount Ebal the hill of cursing Deut. 27. And so taketh possession of the land by faith in the very same place where his sons the Israelites did take possession of it indeed Josh. 8. 12. c. 30. Vers. 11. When he is ready to enter into Egypt whither famine drave him as it did his posterity afterward he is afraid of his life in regard of Sarah who being a white woman would soon be taken notice of by the Egyptians who were Blackmoors This was one main inticement to Josephs Mistress to cast an eye of lustfulness upon him because he was a white Man and she a Moor. Of the same complexion was Pharaohs daughter whom Solomon took to wife of whom that in the first and literal acceptation is to be understood which spiritually is to be applied to the Church Cant. 1. 5 6. I am black but comly and I am black because the Sun hath looked on me and that Psal. 45. 13. The Kings Daughter is all glorious within for she was a Blackmoor without Vers. 20. Pharaoh plagued for Sarah's and Abrahams sake who was an Hebrew Sheepherd giveth charge to the Egyptians making it as it were a law for time to come that they should not converse with Hebrews nor with forrain Sheepherds in any so near familiarity as to eat or drink with them which the Egyptians observed strictly ever after Gen. 42. 32. 46. 34. CHAP. XIII Abraham and Lot quarrel and part in the valley of Achor and this is at the very same time of the year that Israel came into the Land viz. in the first month of the year or Abib CHAP. XIV Noah in the blessing of his son Sem maketh him in a special manner Lord of the Land of Canaan Gen. 9. Hither therefore came Sem and built a City and called it after his own peaceable condition Salem here he reigned as a King but so quietly and retiredly as that he was a Priest also In this sequestration of the father from worldly cares and affairs Elam his eldest son and heir apparent though he were seated far distant in the East yet it concerneth him to have an eye to Canaan and how matters go there for the land by bequest of his grand-father Noah descended to him as by the Common Law This title bringeth Chedorlaomer an heir of Elam from Persia into Canaan when the five Cities of the plain rebel Into this war he taketh three partners younger brothers of the House of Sem Amraphel of Arphaxad King of Chaldea Arioch of Lâ—d King of Ellasar bordering upon Babylonia and Tidal of Assur King of Nations and late built Niniveh These four thus banded together and all children of Sem and all in claim of his land against the usurping Canaanites are resolved to march over and so they do all that Country both within Jordan and without Their first inrode is upon the Rephaims that lay most North and lay first in their way and so over run the Zuzims in Ammon Emims in Moab Horites or Hivites that were Troglodytes or dwelt in the rocky Caves of Mount Seir in Edom as Jer. 49. 10. Obad. ver 3. And all the Canaanites South-East and full South to Hazezon Tamar a point below the dead Sea There they turn in to the land of Canaan properly so called and as they had subdued all the Countries from North to South without Jordan so now they intend to do from South to North within And so they did but when they were come to Dan the North out-going of the land Abram overtaketh them and conquereth the conquerors and now he is doubly titled to the land namely by promise and by victory This Sem or Melchizedeck observeth upon his return with triumph and perceiveth that it was he and his posterity to whom the Lord had designed that Land in the prophetick spirit of Noah and had refused the heirs that were more apparent in Common Law and reason and therefore he bringeth forth bread and wine the best fruits of the land and tenders them as livery and sâ—isin of it to him whom he perceived that God had chosen and pointed out for the right heir CHAP. XV. All fear of claim
bear this sense for there he had tryed them The word Hhok is taken in a signification agreeable to this Psal. 2. 7. I declare it for a decree that since the Lord hath said unto me Thou are my Son c. That therefore ye Kings and Potentates c. submit to the obedience of him or else his anger will shortly kindle c. SECTION XXIII That this story of Jethro is misplaced and why THAT this story is misplaced is plainly by these things First Jethro Moses Father in Law took a burnt offering and sacrifices for God vers 12. Secondly Now on the morrow Moses sate to judge the people vers 13. and made them know the Statutes of God and his Laws vers 16. But as the story lyeth here there was no Tabernacle nor Altar for Sacrifice yet built Neither as yet did Moses know the Statutes and Laws of God himself for as yet they are not come to Sinai Thirdly Moses himself telleth that the choosing of Judges and Elders which was done upon Jethroes Counsel was not till their departing from Sinai The Lord your God spake unto us in Horeb saying You have dwelt long enough in this mountain c. And I spake unto you at that time saying I am not able to bear you my self alone c. Deut. 1. from vers 7. to 19. So that this story should lye at the 10 of Numbers and come in betwixt the tenth and eleventh verses of that Chapter and the story to be conceived thus When Moses had received all the Laws which God would give him at Sinai from Exod. 20. to the Law of the silver Trumpets which was the last Numb 10. then came Jethro and brought Moses's Wife and Children and seeing him toyling in judgment he adviseth him to chuse Judges to ease him which being done ere long the cloud removed and they must flit from Sinai vers 11. When they are ranked to march Moses desireth Hâ—bab or Jethro his Father in Law to go along with him which he denyeth but returneth to his own Country Numb 10. 29 30 31 32. compared with the last verse of this Chapter Thus lyeth the order of the story Now the reason why it is misplaced is this In the last verse of the preceding Chapter there is a perpetual curse decreed against Amaleck The Lord hath sworn that the Lord will have war with Amaleck from generation to generation Now the Midianites and Amalekites lived so promiscuously together that they were as one people and the Kenites or the family of Jethro dwelt in the midst of them 1 Sam. 15. 6. Therefore that it might be observed that Jethro fell not under that curse of Amaleck Moses bringeth him in coming to the Camp of Israel and to God as soon as ever the curse is uttered that every eye might presently observe that Jethro was exempted from it Object But Moses and Israel by this account lay almost a twelve month at Sinai before his Wife and Children came at him and can this be thought that they should be so unnatural one to another Answ. This was Moses his doing not of unnaturalness but piety to restrain their coming till his great task of receiving and giving the Law and building the Tabernacle was over Letters and Visits passed betwixt them there is no doubt and they kept at distance thus by consent for a season That letters passed may be collected from vers 6. 7. And Jethro Moses Father in Law said unto Moses I Jethro thy Father in Law come to thee And Moses went out to meet his Father in Law Jethro said not thus to Moses his face I am come to thee For then why or how upon this tidings could Moses go forth to meet him when they spake face to face already Nor could this speech be delivered by a messenger for it had been an improper and senseless speech of a messenger to say I Jethro come to thee but this Jethro himself telleth Moses by letter before he cometh at him whereupon Moses goeth forth to meet him SECTION XXIV Israels march from Rephidim to Sinai Saint Paul explained 1 Cor. 10. 4. Quest. HOW can it be said that they departed from Rephidim and came to Sinai whereas Rephidim and Sinai were all one For every one knoweth that the mountain whereon the Law was given is called Horeb and Sinai indifferently as Exod. 19. 18. compared with Malach. 4. 4. Now when they were at Rephidim chap. 17. 1. they were at Horeb vers 2. So that to go from Rephidim to Sinai is to go from Horeb to Horeb. Answ. The hill on which the Law was given had indeed two names and as Bellonius saith two tops the one side of it was called Horeb from the rocky drought of it being utterly devoid of water The other side was called Sinai from the bushes and brambles that grew upon it in one of which Moses saw the Lord in a flame of fire if so be it took not the name from Sini the Son of Canaan Gen. 10. Now when Israel lay at Rephidim they lay upon Horeb side and there out of the droughty rock Moses miraculously bringeth forth water Their march from Rephidim is at the skirts of the hill from Horeb to Sinai side of the mountain And in the same sense is Paul to be understood 1 Cor. 10. 4. They drank of the Rock that followed them Not that the Rock stirred and went along with them but that the water which miraculously gushed out of the one side of the hill Horeb ran along with them as they marched at the foot of the hill till they came to the other side of the hill Sinai And so is Moses himself to be understood I cast the dust of the golden Calf into the brook that descended out of the Mount Deut. 9. 21. Not that the brook gushed out of the mount on that side on which the Calf was erected but on the other and at the skirt of the hill came running to that SECTION XXV The Station and Posture of Israel before Sinai Exod. 19. ON the first day of the month Sivan which was towards the middle of our May in the year of the world 2513. they come from Rephidim to Sinai and pitch in their main body more especially on the South and South East side of the Mount See Deut. 33. 2. and compare the situation of Seir in the point of the Compass In three parts or squadrons did their Camp sit down before it 1. Next to the hill pitched the Elders or 70 heads of the chief families which had gone into Aegypt these are called the house of Jacob Vers. 3. as Gen. 46. 27. 2. Next behind them pitched the People in their main body consisting of so many hundred thousands these are called the children of Israel vers 3. And this distinction is observed vers 7. 8. And Moses called the Elders c. And all the people answered 3. On the outside of all lay the mixed multitude or the Aegyptians that
his seed to Molech or useth Sorcery or profaneth the Sabbath or eateth holy things in his uncleanness or that cometh into the Sanctuary he being unclean or that eateth fat or blood or what is left of the sacrifice or any sacrificed thing not offered in season or that killeth or offereth up a sacrifice out of the Court or that eateth leaven at the Passover or that eateth ought on the day of Expiation or doth any work on it or that makes oil or incense like the holy or that anoints with holy oil that delayeth the Passover or Circumcision for which there are affirmative precepts All these if done wilfully are liable to cutting off and if done ignorantly then to the fixed sin-offering and if it be unknown whether he did it or no then to a suspensive trespass-offering but only he that defiles the Sanctuary and its holy things for he is bound to an ascending or descending offering Now that we may the better understand what Death by the hand of Heaven and Cutting off mean we are first to take notice that neither of them was any penalty inflicted by the hand or sentence of man but both of them do import a liableness to the wrath and vengeance of the Lord in their several kinds And the Jews do ever account Cutting off to be the higher and more eminent degree of Divine vengeance As to spare more evidences of this which might be given copiously this passage of Maymonides is sufficient and it is remarkable when he saith f f f Maym. in Biath Mikdash per. 4. Is it possible for a Priest that serveth in his uncleanness to stay so little in the Court 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 As that he should be guilty of death by the hand of Heaven only and not guilty of cutting off He had had those words but a little before which were cited even now An unclean person that serveth in the Sanctuary profaneth his Service and is guilty of death by the hand of Heaven although he stay not there and then he comes on and is it possible saith he that he should stay so little as to be guilty only of death by the hand of Heaven and not to be guilty of cutting off Apparently shewing that cutting off was the deeper degree and die of guilt and vengeance by the hand of God and Divine indignation By Death by the hand of Heaven in their sense therefore is to be apprehended some such a sodain avengeful stroke as the Lord shewed upon Nadab and Abihu or Ananias and Saphira to take them away And this may the better be collected by two passages usual in the Rabbins about this matter First In that they give up the offence of the Priests drinking wine before they went to serve which is held to have been the offence of Nadab and Abihu g g g â—â—â— per. 1. to death by the hand of Heaven which argues that they mean such a kind of stroke as they two had And secondly In that wheresoever the Law enjoyneth Aaron and his sons and the people about the affairs of the Sanctuary they shall or they shall not do thus or thus lest they die they interpret this of death by the hand of Heaven But what to understand by Cutting off is not so readily agreed among them h h h Kimchi in Esay â—8 Kimchi alledgeth it as the opinion of their Doctors That Dying before fifty years old is death by cutting off Compare Joh. 8. 57. i i i R. Sol. in Gâ—â— 17. Rabbi Solomon saith It is to die childless and to die before his time Baal Aruch giveth this distinction between Cutting off and Death by the hand of Heaven that k k k Arâ—â—h in 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Cutting off is of himself and of his children but Death by the hand of Heaven is of himself but not of his children But mean it which of these you will or all these together or which may have good probability to conceive a liableness to cutting off from the life of the world to come both this and Death by the Hand of Heaven were held by that Nation with whom the phrases were so much in use to mean not any censure or punishment inflicted by man but an impending vengeance of God and a continual danger and possibility when indignation should seize upon him that was faln under these gilts Anathema Maran Atha one under a curse whensoever the Lord shall come to inflict it as Joh. 3. 18 36. SECT III. Penalties inflicted upon unclean persons found in the Temple Whipping and the Rebels beating IT was not a small awe that this might work in the hearts of the people towards their restraining from going into the Sanctuary in their uncleanness to have this impressed and inculcated upon them as it was continually that such a venture did hazard them both body and soul and brought them ipso facto into Gods dreadful displeasure and into undoubted danger of accrewing judgment But did they let the offender thus alone that had offended as if he was fallen under the guilt of death by the Hand of Heaven or under the guilt of cutting off that they had no more to do with him but leave him to the justice of God and to judgment when it should fall upon him Many a wretch would make sleight of this matter and because sentence upon his evil work was not executed speedily his heart would be fully set in him to do so again as Eccles. 8. 11. Therefore they let not the Delinquent so escape but as he had fallen under the wrath of God so they also brought him under a penalty by the hand of man And this penalty was twofold either 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 whipping by the appointment of the Judges or mawling and beating by the people 1. There was the penalty of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 whipping or scourging upon the censure of the Judges according to the Law Deut. 25. 2. Where he was to receive forty stripes but their Tradition brought it to forty save one 2 Cor. 11. 24. And the reason of this was because they would make a hedge to the Law and whereas that commands that they should not give to a Delinquent that was whipt above forty stripes lest their brother should seem vile unto them they abated one of forty to make sure to keep within compass The measure and manner of their whipping is largely described in the Treatise Maccoth thus in their own words a a a Maccoth per. 3. How many stripes do they give him saith the Mishueh there Why forty lacking one As it is said by a certain number forty stripes that is a number near to forty Rabbi Judah saith he is beaten with full forty and where hath he the odd one above thirty nine Between his shoulders They allot him not stripes but so as they might be triplicated They allot him to receive forty he hath had some of them
and they say he is not able to bear forty then he is quit they allot him to receive eighteen and as he is in whipping they say he is able to bear forty yet he is quit How do they whip him His hands are tied to two pillars or posts and the Officer of the Court lays hold of his garments and rip or rent it is no matter he pulls them down till he have bared his breast Now there was a stone lay behind him upon which the Officer of the Court stood with a whip of whit-leather in his hand platted four plats and two lashes hanging by it the handle was a hand bredth long and the whip a hand bredth broad and the end of it raught to his belly A third part of his stripes he gave him before on his belly two parts behind And he beats him not standing nor sâ—â—ting but bowed down as it is said The Judge shall cause him to lie down and he strikes him with one hand with all his might And in the mean while one standing by reads or says these portions of Scripture But if thou wilt not observe to do all the words of this Law c. Then the Lord will make thy plagues wonderful and the plagues of thy seed c. Deut. 28. 58 59. And therefore ye shall keep the words of this Covenant c. And he concludes with But he being full of compassion forgives iniquity and destroyeth not Psal. 78. 28. This was the manner of their scourging a very sharp penalty thirteen lashes with a three-lash whip which by that triplication arose to forty save one or if the number were allotted less yet it was as many stripes as they conceived the party could bear 2. There was the penalty of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Rebels beating the beating or the mawling by the people which was a terrible rugged beating by all the people without any sentence of the Judges passed upon him at all and without any measure As in divers cases if a man were deprehended faulty in such or such an offence the people made no more ado but fell upon him pell mell with fists staves or stones and mawled him unmeasurably and very often to death Rabbi Nathan describes it thus b b b Aruch in 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The beating according to the Law is of those that transgress against negative precepts and it is by measure and for admonition and with a three corded whip But he that transgresseth against affirmative speeches they beat him till his life depart and not with a threefold whip And likewise whosoever transgresseth against the words of the wise men they beat him without number and measure and they call it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Rebels beating because he hath rebelled against the words of the Law and against the words of the Scribes The reason of this beating c c c Gloss. in Maym. in Sobbath per. 1. saith another Jew is because he transgressed against a prohibition of theirs in a thing which hath its foundation in the Law and he is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 A Son of Rebellion The frequent taking up of stones by the People to have stoned our Saviour and that incursion upon him Mat. 26. 67. and upon Stephen Act. 7. 57 58. for blasphemy as they would have it and upon Paul Act. 21. 31. for defiling the Temple as they supposed were of this nature Thus he that committed a transgression for which he became liable either to Death by the hand of Heaven or to Cutting off he did not escape barely with that liableness but either he was to be whipt or thus mawled or in some cases was to suffer death by the sentence of the Judges d d d Maym. in Blath Mikdash per. 4. Every negative precept saith Maymony upon which they become liable to death by the hand of Heaven they are beaten for it Much more where there is a liableness to cutting off which is the greater guilt And the same Author e e e Id. in San. per 19. reckons eighteen offences that fell under liableness to death by the Hand of Heaven and for which the Offenders were whipt and twenty one that fell under liableness to cutting off and for which the Offenders were also whipt and were not put to death by the Judges Amongst those transgressions that deserved these penalties going into the Sanctuary in uncleanness fell under as many of them as any one offence whatsoever It were too tedious to insist upon all particulars let us take up these few and guess and conjecture of the rest by them A Priest or any other that went into the Court being unclean fell under the guilt of being cut off and if they served there in their uncleanness the Priest at the Altar and any other person in laying on of his hands on the sacrifice or waving any part of it they then became liable to death by the hand of Heaven And such a Priest being deprehended thus faulty f f f Id in Biath Mikd. ubi supr they never brought him before the Sanhedrin g g g Talm. in Schedr per. 9. but the young men of the Priests thrust him out of the Court and dasht out his brains with the billets And the like they did by the other persons A Leper that entred into the Mountain of the House was beaten with eighty stripes He that was defiled by the dead or unclean for a day if he went into the Court of the Women he was to be beaten with the Rebels beating And so was he that came in having eaten or drunk any unclean thing or after a seven days uncleanness would go into the Court of Israel before his atonement was made And he that brought in a Vessel or came in any Clothes which one that was defiled by the dead had toucht was to be whipt And not to multiply particulars whosoever came within the holy Ground being unclean and knowing of it and yet would come in he incurred the guilt of cutting off ipso facto and if he were discovered and the matter proved by witness he was sure either to be whipt or else to be mawled with the Rebels beating the former always most terrible the latter deadly very oft It is indeed a common saying among the Talmudick Writers that for such or such offences though a man be not whipt yet is he beaten with the Rebels beating as if the latter were the gentler castigation they do not mean that the Rebels beating was the less penalty but they intend this that though there be no express in the Law that appoints his whipping yet the decrees of the Wise-men which he hath broken appoint him to be beaten h h h Talm. in Maccoth per. 3. Whosoever had incurred the guilt of being Cut off after he is whipt is acquitted from that guilt as it is said Lest thy brother be vile in thine eyes Behold after he is whipt he
us And put into our hearts to know understand obey learn teach observe do and perform all the words of the Doctrine of thy Law in love and enlighten our Eyes by thy Law and cause our hearts to cleave to thy commandments and unite our hearts to love and to fear thy Name c. After this Prayer they rehearsed the Ten Commandments and after the Ten Commandments they said over their Phylacteries There is mention of their Phylacteries in the Scripture Matth. 23. 5. and they were four Sections or Paragraphs of the Law written in two Parchments which Parchments they wore about them continually as Memorandums of their observance of the Law and evidences of their devotion and therefore they were called in the Greek Tongue Phylacteria or Observatories and in the Hebrew Tephillin or Oraisons The portions of the Law that were written in these Parchments were these I. Exod. chap. 13. vers 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10. II. Exod. chap. 13. vers 11 12 13 14 15 16. III. Deut. chap. 6. vers 4 5 6 7 8 9. IV. Deut. chap. 11. vers 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21. The manner and curiosity of writing these sentences * * * Vid. Maym in Tephillin per. 1. 2. Buxtorf Lex Tal. in 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in their several columns and in what Parchment and with what ink is largely discoursed by the Author cited in the margin with which I shall not trouble the Reader at this time only I may not omit the reason why these were used rather than any other sentences of the Law which was this because in every one of the Sections there is mention either of Those words being Totaphoth or frontlets between their eyes or a memorial between their eyes or that they should bind them upon their hands And accordingly the place where they wore these two parchments was the one upon their foreheads downwards towards between their eyebrows and the other upon their left arm whereupon * * * Tanchuma fol. 6. col 3. Tanchuma hath taken occasion to expound Gods swearing by his strong arm of his swearing by the Phylacteries I doubt whether all the Nation used these Phylacteries indifferently or only those who were called The Scholars of the wise who pretended more knowledge devotion and study of the Law than the common people a a a Iuchasin It is recorded by the Jewish writers that the Sadduces though they could not away with the Pharisees traditions yet that they used Phylacteries as well as they but only that they differed from them in opinion about the place where they should wear them but whether Husbandmen Tradesmen and the rest of the common people wore them as well as Scholars and the learned of the Nation this one passage of Maymony amongst other arguments may give some occasion to suspect He speaking of those things for which a man might be allowed to pass by a Synagogue whilst they were at prayers there and not come in among other things he saith thus b b b Maym. ubi sup Were his Phylacteries seen upon him then that was a sign that he neglected not the Law and so though he had occasion to pass the Synagogue at that time yet his Phylacteries appearing spake for him that it was not for want of devotion that he passed the Synagogue but was called away by some business or occasion Howsoever the common people did not wear these Phylactery parchments as the learned did yet both learned and unlearned were bound alike to the rehearsing or saying over the Phylactery sentences contained in them morning and evening every day c c c Talm. in Beracoth per. 2. Yea workmen that were on the top of a tree or on the top of a piece of timber rearing or repairing a house they were bound to this rehersal there when the time of the day for it was come This rehearsal is commonly called by the Hebrews 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Keriath Shema the saying over of Shema because one of the Sections began with Shema Israel Hear O Israel c. Deut. 6. 4. which though it were not the first of the four as they stand written in the book of the Law nor the first written in their parchments which they wore yet was it ever the first in their rehearsal and the reason is given because it containeth the first and the foundation of all other duties and that is to love the Lord. The time of their Keriath Shema or rehearsal of their Phylactery sentences in the morning is thus determined in their Traditions d d d Ibid. per. 2 At what time of day do they say over their Phylacteries in the morning Namely from such time as a man can see to distinguish between blew and white Rabbi Eliezer saith between blew and green even until sun rising Rab. Joshua saith until the third hour And at what time do they say them over at Evening Namely from the time that the Priests go in to eat their offerings until the end of the first watch c. Now besides this dayly rehearsal of these sentences morning and evening to which they were all bound by their traditions they also held it a great piece of piety to say them over at the hour of death so it is related of one of the ten Martyrs of the Kingdom for so let me Translate 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that as he was saying over his Phylacteries he was slain and cast unto the dogs And to speak from more later times Joseph the Priest e e e Lib. 1. ad ann 1096. in his various History of the Turks Jews and Christians a book very rare to be had describing a massacre raised by the red Cross Souldiers that went under Godfrey of Bulloine and the rest to the holy war against the Jews in Germany he recordeth it several times over that when such and such murdered Jews were ready to expire yea even children in their mothers arms they said their Keriath Shema or their Phylactery sentences over and with those in their mouths they gave up the Ghost SECT V. The burning of Incense and the rest of their Prayers COncerning the time of the burning of Incense they have this Tradition 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 * * * Ioma per. 3. That the Incense of the morning was offered between the sprinkling of the blood and the laying of the pieces upon the Altar and of the Evening between the laying on of the pieces on the Altar and the drink offering Now for this imployment of offering the Incense they go to lotting again to be resolved who should do it and so there was another lot likewise cast to determine who should bring the pieces from the rise of the Altar and lay them on He that was alotted to burn the Incense took a silver dish in which there was a Censer full of Frankincense another took another dish and went to the top of the
d Ibid. per. 1. in Gemara Rabbi Meiâ— saith they may eat it all the fifth hour and were to burn it at the beginning of the sixth Rabbi Judah saith they may eat it all the fourth hour and they were to suspend all the fifth and at the sixth hour they were to burn it Which dispute Maymonides fifteth into this resolution e e e Maym. ubi supr per. 1. It was lawful to eat leaven on the fourteenth day till the end of the fourth hour but they might not eat it the fifth hour yet they might use it but he that eateth it the sixth hour was beaten with the Rebels beating and he that eat it from the beginning of the seventh was to be whipt Twelve a clock or thereabouts therefore being come it had been a strange sight to have seen every one of them either siring or drowning or scattering their leaven into the wind for any of these ways served for the expelling of it and this command and practice reached over all the Country and you might have seen them do it with this Valediction f f f Seder Hagâ—â—dab ubi sup All the leaven that is within my possession which I have seen or which I have not seen which I have cast out or which I have not cast out be it null be it as the dust of the earth SECT III. The time of killing the Passeover ABout the day of celebrating the Passover there needeth no discourse to fix it it is so plainly pointed out to be the fourteenth day of the first Month that nothing can be plainer therefore when we speak of the time of killing the Passover we speak not of the day of the month which is so well known but of the time of the day which is not so clearly pointed out The Tosaphta indeed upon the Treatise Pesachin relateth that a a a Tosaphta in Pesach per. 1. ad med the Cuthaeans sometimes kept their Passover a day before the Israelites did and sometimes a day after where the word Cuthaeans might breed some dispute for in the Talmudicks language it means sometimes Samaritans and sometimes Christians but we shall not insist upon it And there have been some Christians that have held that Christ and his Disciples kept their last Passover one day before the Jews kept theirs conceiting this from that which is spoken in John 18. 28. where it is related that when Christ was brought into Pilate's Judgment Hall which was when he had eaten the Passover as all the other Evangelists declare abundantly the Jews durst not go into Pilates Hall lest they should be defiled but that they might eat the Passover To which mistake I shall only give some words of Maymony at this present for answer for the ground of the mistake we shall have occasion to look after in the ensuing discourse b b b Maym. in Corban Pesach per. 1. It is an affirmative command saith he to kill the Passover on the fourteenth day of the Month Nisan in the afternoon and they kill it not but only of Lambs or Kids a male of the first year and both men and women are alike liable to this command and he that breaks this command presumptuously and passeth the fourteenth day and offereth not if he be not unclean or in a long journey he is guilty of being cut off but if he transgress the command ignorantly he is quit They kill not the Passover but in the Court even as the rest of the holy offerings yea even in those times when high places were permitted they offered not the Passover in a private high place but in the publick that is the Temple and he that offered it in a private high place was to be whipt From which words it being observed what penalty lay upon him that passed the fourteenth day and what the there was to slay the Paschal Lamb in the Court it will appear extream absurd to imagine that any Israelite should keep his Passover before the fixed day What the Cuthaeans or Samaritans might do at their Mount Gerizim it is no matter but for any Jews to celebrate the Passover at Jerusalem for no where else it might be done before the proper and fixed time could not have been without evident danger to them that did it it being so diametrically contrary both to the Law and to their Traditions and yet we find not Christ was ever toucht with the least accusation about his Passover as if he kept it on the wrong day But to let this pass which indeed is too plain to be disputed for the Evangelist most plainly tels us that on the day of unleavened bread when the Passover must be killed Jesus sent Peter and John to prepare his Passover Luke 22. 7 8. and now to come to look after the time of the day when the Passover was killed we must take these two maximes with us c c c Id. ibid. 1. That the Passover was not lawful if it were killed before noon and the reason of this is easie to give namely because the Law doth expresly appoint that they should kill it between the two evenings Exod. 12. 6. And 2. that the daily evening Sacrifice was to be killed before they began to kill the Passover and the reason of this is also readily to be given namely because an extraordinary service must not prevent one ordinary and constant d d d Id. ibid. After they had burnt the incense of the evening sacrifice and after they had dressed the Lamps then they began to kill the Passover and so continued till the end of the day The times they divided thus e e e Talm. in Pesach per. 5. they slew the daily Sacrifice at the eighth hour and an half and they offered it up at the ninth hour and an half but on the Eve of the Passover they slew it at the seventh hour and an half and offered it up at the eighth hour and an half whether the day were a common day or the Sabbath and if the Eve of the Passover fell on the Eve of the Sabbath the daily Sacrifice was killed at the sixth hour and half an hour past and offered it up at the seventh hour and half an hour past and the Passover after it It was the command both for the Passover and for the daily Evening Sacrifice that they should be slain and offered 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 between the two Evenings Exod. 12. 6. 29. 39. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 f f f Ab. Ezra in Exod. 12. A very hard expression saith Aben Ezra and he gives as very hard an interpretation of it for he judgeth the two Evenings to be these the one when the Sun sets and goes out of sight and the other when the day closes in and all the light is clean gone which he saith is ordinarily about an hour and three quarters after Sun setting and so he will have the daily Sacrifice to be
as they were now set one of the Company the Master of the family if there were but one family in the society or if there were more some sit man chosen out for that purpose whom they called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the rehearser of the office of the Passover gave thanks over the Wine and then they drank it off The thanksgiving was in reference to the Wine and in reference to the Day The Schools of Hillel and Shammai differ about the precedency of these two or whether of them should first take place but whether soever went first for it is not worth labour to trace the dispute the tenour of his thanksgiving was to this purpose over the Wine he said * * * Talm. in Beracoth per. 6. Blessed be thou O Lord who hast created the fruit of the Vine and as concerning the day he used such words as these ‖ ‖ ‖ Maym. in Birk Mazon Blessed be thou for this good day and for this holy convocation which thou hast given us for joy and rejoycing Blessed be thou O Lord who hast sanctified Israel and the times IV. * * * Id. in Hâ—amets c. ubi ante Then did they every one of them wash their hands over which action the Officiator for so let us call him uttered this ejaculation Blessed be thou O Lord our God who hath sanctified us with his commandments and hath commanded us concerning the washing of our hands They used on this night to wash their hands twice whereas at other Suppers they washed but once and this different and extraordinary so doing it was their course to take notice of and to speak of as they were at supper using this passage amongst others that they uttered at that time How different is this night from all other nights for all other nights we wash but once but this night we wash twice They use the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to express the washing of their hands by which betokeneth dipping for in that way they washed them at this time The Treatise ‖ ‖ ‖ Talm. in Iadajim per. 2. Tosapht ibid. Jadajim and the Tosaphta there do intimate unto us that they had a twofold way of washing their hands Netilah and Tebhilah either by pouring water upon them or by putting them into the water and they difference these two washings by these circumstances besides the different application of the water that he that put his hands into the water needed not to dry them but he that poured water on them needed He that had water poured on them must lift up his hands yet so as the water might not run above his wrist nor return upon his hands for making them unclean but there drop off 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Mark 7. 3. But he that puts his hands into water needed not to lift them up c. He that puts his hands into the water is said to 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 dip his hands and he that had water poured upon them was said to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to wash his hands and yet both of these kinds of washing were indifferently called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Netilath Jadajim washing of the hands V. They having washed the table was then furnished with what provision they held requisite for that supper and that was of several sorts For besides the Passover Lamb and unleavened Bread and bitter Herbs for the use of which they had an express command they had at the least two dishes besides and sometimes three which they had taken up the use of upon tradition Let us view all their dishes particularly 1. There were two or three cakes of unleavened bread * * * Vid. Gloss. ad Maym. ubi ante for the number is under some dispute and the eating of this bread they held so undispensable a command that infants and sick persons were to be brought to it and if they were not able to eat it dry they had it sopt and macerated in some liquid thing that so they might eat of it at least to the quantity of an Olive And as for persons of health and strength they were to eat very little meat of all day that they might eat unleavened bread with hungring and appetite at night and many of them would fast all day for that purpose Especially they might not eat unleavened bread of all day because there should be a distinct appetitive eating of it at the Passover and he that eat any unleavened Bread that day before that time he was beaten with the Rebels stripes 2. The herbs they used were five kinds 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Lettice 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Endive 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Succory 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Beets 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Horehound or some such herbs as these some of them sallet herbs and some bitter and these either green or dried but neither boiled nor pickled And the general and the proper reason that is given for the use of this rite of eating bitter herbs is * * * R. Sol. in Exod. 12. that they might hereby remember the bitter affliction that they underwent in Egypt But the fancy of a Spanish Jew cited by Aben Ezra is somewhat singular in this point which let me produce in his words * * * Ab. Ezr. in Exod. 12. One of the wise men of Spain saith he saith it is well known that moisture is predominant in the land of Egypt because of the waters of the river and because they have no rains there therefore the air is continually moist Hereupon it was their custom at all their Tables to eat divers kinds of bitter herbs and mustard And though an Egyptian had but one bit of meat yet had he ever bitter herbs at his Table to dip his meat in which was a help for their air But we will adhere to the judgment of our ancients of blessed memory which have expounded to us that the bitter herbs were a memorial of that passage They made their lives bitter Exod. 1. 3. The body of the Paschal Lamb was also set upon the Table rosted whole and so brought up * * * Pâ—sach ubi supr the Legs and Inwards as Heart Liver c. held by some to have been put and rosted within him but by others to have been fastned by some means upon his body and so rosted on the outside of him Now besides these three dishes of Bread Flesh and Sallet so positively appointed by the Law 4. They used to eat some other meat before they began to eat of the Paschal And the reason of this was because they would eat of that to satiety * * * Maym. in Corban Pesack per. 8. For it was held a choice command that a man should eat the flesh of the Passover with an eating to satiety therefore if he had offered his fourteenth days peace offerings then he eat of them first and afterward he eat of the flesh of the
from the Phaenicians And Euphorus thinks that Cadmus was he that conveyed them Chaerilus in Eusebius makes Phaenicians and Jews all one For he nameth Jews in Xerxes army and names their Tongue the Phaenician his words be these 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 In English thus A wondrous people marcht behind along Their Dialect was the Phaenician Tongue On hill of Solymae they dwelt thereby A spacious lake not far remote doth lie These Phaenicians if you will call them so or Jews were the first that had Letters But the Jews were not Phaenicians indeed nor their Tongue the same yet for bordering of their Countries the Poet makes them all one The Phaenician is not now to be had unless the * * * The Syrian translating of the word Phaenicia in the New Testament seems to confirm this for true Punick or Carthaginian and Phaenick or Phaenician were all one which most like they were And then some few lines of the Tongue are to be found in Plautus his Paenulus which as Paraeus saith can little or nothing be made of Eusebius speaks of Sancuniathou that wrote the Phaenician History in the same Tongue but more of the Language he saith not But to the matter That Letters were so long in use before the giving of the Law I am induced to believe upon these reasons First Josephus is of this mind that Letters were before the Flood And the Scripture cites Enochs Prophesie which whether it were written by him or not is uncertain yet if there were any such thing those many places which we find of it in Tertullian Clemens and others do argue that so much could not punctually be kept by word of mouth A second reason to move me to think of Letters before the giving of the Law is to think of Josephs accounts in Egypt which seem almost impossible without writing Thirdly But omitting that I cannot see how all Arts and Sciences in the World should then flourish as considering their infancy they did without the groundwork of all Learning Letters Fourthly Again for the Jews upon the writing of the Law to be put to spelling as they that had never seen letters before and not to be able to read it had been a Law upon the Law adding to the hardness of it Fifthly Nor can I think that when Moses saith blot me out of thy book that he taketh the Metaphor from his own books which it is probable he had not yet written but from other books which were then abounding in the world Sixthly The Egyptian Chronicles of so many thousand years in Diodorus and Laertius I know are ridiculous yet their carefulness of keeping Records I have ever believed The Greeks were boys to them as it is in Plato and Moses was Scholar to them or their learning Act. 7. Now I cannot think that this their exceeding Humane Learning was kept only in their brains and none in writing Nor do I think that if it were written that it was decyphered only in their obscure Hieroglyphicks but that some of it came to ordinary writing of familiar letters CHAP. XXX Of the Hebrew Tongue WHO so will go about to commend the Hebrew Tongue may justly receive the censure that he of Rome did who had made a long book in the praise of Hercules This labour is in vain for never any one dispraised Hercules Other commendations this Tongue needeth none than what it hath of it self namely for Sanctity it was the Tongue of God and for Antiquity it was the Tongue of Adam God the first founder and Adam the first speaker of it In this Tongue were laid up the Mysteries of the Old Testament It begun with the World and the Church and continued and increased in glory till the Captivity in Babel which was a Babel to this Tongue and brought to confusion this Language which at the first confusion had escaped without ruine At their return it was in some kind repaired but far from former perfection The Holy Scriptures viewed by Ezra a Scribe fit for the Kingdom of Heaven in whose treasure were things New and Old In the Maccabean times all went to ruine Language and Laws and all lost and since that time to this day the pure Hebrew hath lost her familiarity being only known by Scholars or at least not without teaching Our Saviours times spake the Syrian Kepha Golgotha Talitha and other words do witness In aftertimes the unwearied Masorites arose helpers to preserve the Bible Hebrew intire and Grammarians helpers to preserve the Idiome alive but for restoring it to the old familiarity neither of them could prevail For the Jews have at this day no abiding City no Common-wealth no proper Tongue but speak as the Countries wherein they live This whereof they were once most nice is gone and this groat they have lost As the man in Seneca that through sickness lost his memory and forgot his own Name so they for their sins have lost their Language and forgot their own Tongue Their Cain like wandring after the murther of their brother according to the flesh Christ Jesus hath lost them this precious mark of Gods favour and branded them with a worse mark Cauterio conspirationis antiquae as saith Saint Bernard in another case Before the confusion of Tongues all the world spake their Tongue and no other but since the confusion of the Jews they speak the Language of all the World and not their own And that it is not with them so only of late but hath been long Theodoret beareth witness in these words Other Nations saith he have their children speaking quickly in their own mother Tongue Howbeit there are no children of the Hebrews who naturally spake the Hebrew Tongue but the Language of the Country where they are born Afterward when they grow up they are taught the letters and learn to read the Holy Scripture in the Hebrew Tongue Thus Theod. in quaest on Gen. 59. 60. About this their training up of their Children and growth of Men in their own Tongue and Learning a Rabbin hath this saying in Pirke Auoth Perek 1. Ben He he saith At five years old for the Scripture at ten for Mishneh at thirteen * * * Or Philacterits c. for the Commandment at fifteen for the Talmud At eighteen for Mariage at twenty for Service at thirty for Strength at forty for Understanding at fifty for Counsel at sixty for Old age at seventy for Gray Hairs at eighty ‖ ‖ ‖ Or fortitude of mind or God for Profoundness at ninety for Meditation at one hundred he is as Dead and past and gone out of the World The Jews look for a pompous Kingdom when Messias the Son of David shall come whom they watch for every moment till he come as it is in the twelfth Article of their Creed in their Common Prayer Book He shall restore them as they hope a temporal Kingdom and of that mind till they were better taught were the Apostles Acts 1.
see the full setling of the Law in their houses And when God had fetched him a people out of Egypt and laid the foundation of a glorious Church with signs and wonders then he thought it fit for their restriction as also ‖ ‖ ‖ Vid. Jarchi on Ruth cap. 1. for their distinction from the Heathen to give the Law from his own mouth the more to procure reverence to him For Heaven and Earth must needs hearken when the Lord speaketh Isa. 1. 2. And thus did †††Numa Minos c. the Heathen fain they received their Laws from a Deity that was never seen and yet their Laws were the better observed for that reason CHAP. LIX Of the place where it was given and manner GOD gave the Law in Arabia so wicked Mahomet gave his Law in Arabia A worse and a better thing no one Country every afforded God gave his Law in Sinai a bushy place as it seems by * * * Seneh signifies a bush Exodus 3. the name agreeable to the giving of so perplexing a matter Carry along with thee gentle Reader as thou readest the Scripture thus much care at my request as to mark that the Law of Moses was given in two places Sinai and the Tabernacle as also to consider that some part of this Law did only concern the Jews and some part did also concern all the World The Ceremonial Law that concerned only the Jews it was given to Moses in private in * * * Levit. 1. the Tabernacle and fell with the Tabernacle when the veil rent in twain The Moral Law concerns the whole World and it was given in sight of the whole World on the top of a mountain and must endure as long as any mountain standeth The Judicial Law which is more indifferent and may stand or fall as seems best for the good of a Common-wealth was given neither so publick as the one nor so private as the other but in a mean between both The Law on Sinai was with fire and trumpets so shall Christ come with fire and trumpet at the latter day to take an account how men have kept this fiery Law as it is called Deut. 33. 2. Fiery because given out of the fire as the Jerusalem and Babilonian Targums hold though I think there is more meant by the words than so for it is Eshdath which may be rendred the fire of a Law CHAP. LX. Of the effects of the Law THE letter of the Law is death but the Spirit giveth life The Jews stand upon the letter and think to gain life by the works of it but them the Apostle frequently Vid. Hillar Hieron in loc confuteth And I take the aim of Christs Parable Matth. 20. about the penny to extend to no less Some came into the Vineyard at the Dawning of the Day or the Age before the Flood and some at the third hour or in the time before the Law and some at the sixth and ninth hour or under the heat and burden of the Jewish Law and some at the last under the Gospel Those under the Law plead for merit we have born the heat and burden of the day that is costly Sacrifices sore Ceremonies c. To whom the Master answers that his penny is his own and if he give it it is not for their merit but his good will St. Paul calls the Law a School-Master and so it is indeed and such a School-Master as that that Livy and Florus speak of in Italy who brought forth his children that were trusted with him to Hannibal who if he had not been more merciful than otherwise they had all perished So they that rely upon the works of the Law are in fine constrained by the Law to come to Christ who more merciful than the Law does deliver them And if you well weigh it you shall find that as the whole Law so every part from one to another brings us to Christ. The Moral Law shews us what we should do and with the same sight we find that we cannot do it This makes us to seek to the Ceremonial for some Sacrifice or Ceremony to answer for our not doing it There we see that burning a dead beast is but poor satisfaction for the sins of men living and that outward purifyings of mens selves can avail but little to the cleansing of a soiled soul this then delivers us to the Judicial Law and by it we see what we deserve and thus in fine we are constrained to seek to Christ * * * It was Jesus or Josuah and not Moses or the Law that brought Israel into the Land of Canaan Jesus for there is no other name whereby we must be saved The Parable that our Saviour propounds in the tenth of Luke I think tends somethink to this purpose A man saith he went from Jerusalem to Jericho and fell among theeves and they robbed him of his raiment and wounded him and departed leaving him half dead A certain Priest came that way and when he saw him he turned aside A Levite came that way and when he saw him he passed by on the other side But a good Samaritan came as the Text imports and pitied him and salved him and lodged him and paid for him Such a one is man fallen among Satan Sin and Death and by them stopt stript and striped Satan dismounts him off his Innocency that should sustain him Sin strips him of all Righteousness that should array him Death strikes him with guiltiness and wounds him Here is a man in a woful case and none to aid him By comes a Priest that is first come the Sacrifices of the legal Priesthood and they may pass by him but they do not nor they cannot help him By comes a Levite that is the Ceremonies of the Levitical Law and they may pass by him but they do not they cannot help him Or by comes a Priest that is the Angels may see him thus but they let him lie for they cannot help him By comes a Levite that is Men and the World may see him thus but they let him alone for ever for they cannot succour him But by comes a good Samaritan that is our Saviour himself who is called a Samaritan and is said to have a Devil and he pities him salves him lodges him and pays for him He pities him in very bowels therefore he says as I live I would not the death of a sinner He salves him with his own blood therefore t is said By his stripes we are healed He lodges him in his own Church therefore the Church saith He brought me in the winecellar and love was his banner over me And he pays for him what he deserved therefore he saith I have troad the Winepress alone It is said in the Book of Kings that when the Shunamites dead child was to be raised Elisha first sent his staff to be laid upon him but that did no good but when Elisha
so long as four thousand years before Christ came to save Sinners p. 627. Why did Christ appear at that time of the World rather than any other p. 628. The Jews had dreadful Opinions about his coming p. 640 641. He healed all Diseases by his Touch but cast out Devils by his Word p. 642. The Diseases he cured were of three kinds p. 645. His Doctrines were comprised under Two Heads p. 645. He cured the Leprosie when the Priests could not yet Christ was tender of their reputation p. 648. He as God could do all things but as Messias nothing but as delegated and assisted by the Father As Son of God he hath all power in himself as Messias he hath all power put into his Hands by the Father p. 672 c. He was set up by his Father as King and Lord over all things affirmed in many places in Scripture He as God-man is Head of all Principality and Power five Reasons given for it p. 674. Further evidence of his being the Messias and how opposed therein by the Jews p. 680 681 682. His Life Doctrine and Miracles shewed him to be the Messias so did the Testimony of his Father John the Baptist and the Scriptures c. p. 682 683 684. His Resurrection and the History of it as also his eight several Apparitions after it p. 734 735. The year of his Ascention p. 738. The Age of the World at his Resurrection Death and Ascention p. 739. He was nailed to the Cross at the same time of the day that our first Parents fell viz. at twelve a Clock p. 748. At three a Clock he yielded up the Ghost then Adam received the promise p. 748. There was a general expectation of his appearance even when he did appear with the multitudes that then came to Jerusalem upon that account both Jews and Heathens then expecting him as is seen by their own Writers p. 751 752. Some things out of the Jewish Writers concerning the Judging Condemning and Executing of him p. 968. He paid his Church Duties p. 240. He was so poor as to be put to work a Miracle to get money p. 240. The Signs of his coming predicting his near approach what p. 462 463. Christ about the time of his death the scarlet List on the Scape Goats head turned not white as usually what against the Jews p. 1101. * Christians called by Suetonius Men of a new and evil Superstition or Religion so Tacitus calls their way a dangerous Superstition shewing how Nero persecuted them after Rome was fired as if they had been guilty to deliver himself from the just accusation of it p. 327 There was yet Christians in Nero's houshold p. 328. They were under Nero very bloodily and bâ—rbarously persecuted so as to move the pity of their Enemies saith Tacitus the Jews heightening that persecution against them p. 333 334. They were destroyed by Nero for a plot layed by himself against them the Heathens for real plotting against him now grown endlesly cruel p. 334. The Disciples were first called Christians at Antioch Page 871 Chronology was very exact from the Creation to Christs death but less cared for after the New Testament History was finished and why p. 777. The Heathen Chronology mistaken in numbring the Persian Kings 2066. * Church Church Duties were paid by Christ. p. 240. The Church a Title given the first Professors of the Gospel 871 Circumcision when and where instituted p. 13. It was renewed at Israels entring into Canaan as a Seal of the lease of the Land p. 40. It was not to be used under Christianity because the Jews looked upon it as an admission into the Covenant of Works p. 319. It enervated Justification by faith p. 319. It obliged to the observance of the whole Law p. 319. The reason of its Institution why it was not in the old World nor for some considerable time after the Flood that is why the Church injoyed it not of so long a time p. 464 465. When it was to cease 465. It was instituted in Hebron about the time of Easter p. 695. Circumcision and Meats made the difference between Jew and Gentile these being removed let the Gentiles into the Church p. 842. The Ends of its use and how used among others besides the Israelites p. 1007 1008 Citation or Quotation of Scripture one place of Scripture citing another doth sometimes change the words to fit the occasion 498 Cittim The name of a Man and of Italy and of part of Greece 996 City The City and Temple of Jerusalem were destroyed Anno Mundi exactly 4000. p. 487. Holy City the common and ordinary name for Jerusalem when even full of abomination and corruption Separatists may think of this p. 497. City what 647 Clean and Unclean Legal the Doctrine of them p. 30. The Priests could only pronounce not make Leapers clean 219 c. Cleopas was the same person with Alpheus p. 27. He had four Sons all Apostles 660 Clerks of the Sanhedrim what their Number and what their business 2006. * Cloak Paul's Cloak denoted his Jewish habit 3â—6 Cloister walks called Porches p. 661 668. Cloister Royal what 1061. * Closets for the Butchering Instruments and for the Priests Vestments described 1077. * Cloud the Cloud of Glory was taken away at Moses his death p. 40. And appeared again at the Sealing of the Great Prophet Christ. 710 Coat of the first Born what p. 905. And Coat of the High Priest and of the Ephod what 905 Coming of the Lord and the end coming denote the near approach of Vengeance on Jerusalem 332 333 335 338 342 343 Common or unclean what before the Flood and since 845 Community of Goods was not to level Estates but to provide for the Poor p. 278. How practised and of what extent 762 Communicating with others was sometimes in Sacred Things in Civil Things it was twofold 305 Communion with others was sometimes in Sacred Things in Civil Things it was twofold 305 Companying with others was sometimes in Sacred Things in Civil Things it was twofold 305 Confession of sins at Johns Baptism was after not before Baptism Page 456 457 Confirmation Imposition of Hands by the Apostles in all likelyhood was never used for Confirmation 788 Confusion of Tongues into what number of Languages it was divided 1009 to 1011 Consistory of Priests was called Beth-Din which transacted business in the Temple 914 Consolation of Israel Christs coming is often signified by that term 430 Conversion Repentance or Reformation was once general and wonderful 54 758 c. Conversion of Niniveh a very wonderful thing 1007 Cor what sort of Measure 545 Corus what sort of Measure 545 Corban what p. 237. The Gate Corban where and why so called 2020 2021. * Corinth something described 295 Cornelius a Roman Captain one that arived at an admirable height of Piety though not so much as a Proselite p. 285 286. Some things remarkable about his calling into the Gospel 832 c.
Beror Chel A Feast is there a Feast is there These things are something obscure and do require light 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Beror Chel seems to design a place but what place Indeed the Sanhedrin of R. Jochanan was in Jafne but his Consistory 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 his seat of Judgment seems to be distinguished from the Sanhedrin So Paul was brought up at the feet of Rabban Gamaliel not in his Sanhedrin but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in his Consistory or School So you may conjecture that Rabban Jochanan besides that he sat President of the chief Sanhedrin had his peculiar Consistory in Jafne it self or in some neighbour place That which follows A Tradition The sound of mills c. is cleared by the Glossers The sound of mills in Burni was a sign that there was a Circumcision there as if it had been publickly proclaimed The Infants week expires in this place And the sound of a mill was a sign that spices were ground to be applied to the wound of the Circumcision It was a time of persecution wherein it was forbidden to circumcise they feared therefore by any publick notice to make known that there was to be a Circumcision but they appointed this sign A candle in Beror Chel The Gloss writes The light of one candle in the day time but many candles burning in the night gave a sign as if one had given notice by a publick Proclamation that a feast of Circumcision was there c. Another Gloss is thus They were wont to light candles at a Circumcision It was also a custom to spread a Table cloth at the door hence is that A custom prevailed at Jerusalem that as long as the Table cloth was spread at the door travailers went in The Aruch writes thus a a a a a a Aruch in 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 In the time of persecution they could not celebrate publick matrimony nor publick Circumcision therefore they did them secretly wheresoever therefore were lighted candles on the lintel of the door they knew that there was a wedding feast there and wheresoever was the sound of mills there was a Circumcision The Jerusalem Talmudists add 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 b b b b b b Châ—tubâ— fol. 25. 3. Although the Persecution ceased yet that custom ceased not The Babylonian Talmudists go on Go to R. Josua 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to Pekiin In the Jerusalem Talmudists it is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Bekiin in this story that follows c c c c c c Chagigah fol. 75. 4. R. Jochanan ben Bruchah and R. Eliezer the blind travailed from Jabne to Lydda and received R. Josua in 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Bekiin Go to Rabban Gamaliel to Jabne Go to Rabbi Akiba to Bene Barak Go to R. Mathia to Roma Go to R. Chananiah ben Teradion to Siâ—ni To R. Jose to Zippor To R. Judah ben Betirah to Nisibin To R. Josua to the Captivity viz. to Pombiditha To Rabbi to Beth-Shaaraim To the wise Men in the chamber Gazith CHAP. XCVII The Cities of the Levites COncerning them see Numb Chap. XXXV and Jos. Chap. XXI a a a a a a Maimon in Shemittâ—h Vejobel cap. 13. The suburbs of the Cities of the Levites were three thousand cubits on every side viz. from the walls of the City and outwards as it is said From the walls of the City and outwards a thousand Cubits and thou shait measure from without the City two thousand Cubits Numb XXXV 4 5. The former thousand were the Suburbs and the latter two thousand were for Fields and Vineyards They appointed the place of burial to every one of those Cities to be without these bounds for within them it was not lawful to bury a dead corps Do you ask the reason It was not so much for the avoiding Pollution which might be contracted from a Sepulchre as by reason of the Scribes curious interpretation of the Law that saith The Suburban lands of these Cities were given to the Levites for their Cattel and Oxen 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and for all their living creatures Numb XXXV 3. therefore say they Not for the dead or for burial b b b b b b Id. in Roâ—zeaâ— cap 8. All the Cities of the Levites were Cities of refuge but with this distinction from those six which were properly so called that those six afforded refuge to every one that dwelt in them whether he betook himself thither for that end or no but the other Levitical Cities were not so And also that the unwitting Manslayer flying to those six Cities dwelt there at free cost without paying any rent for his house but in the other Levitical Cities he lived not at free cost Those forty eight Cities of the Levites were so many Universities where the Ministerial Tribe distributed in companies studied the Law became learned and thence scattered through the whole Nation dispersed learning and the knowledge of the Law in all the Synagogues Two things are not without good reason to be observed here which perhaps are not seriously enough observed by all I. The setled Ministry of the Church of Israel was not Prophets but Priests and Levites Mal. II. 7. For it was not seldom when there were no Prophets and the Prophets send the people to the Priests for instruction Hag. II. 11. and Mal. in the place mentioned already II. That Tithes were granted to the Priests and Levites not only when they ministred at the Altar or in the Temple but when they studied in the Universities and preached in the Synagogues Behold the method of Gods own Instituion God chuseth Israel to be a peculiar people to himself to this chosen people he gives a Law and a Clergy on the Clergy he enjoyns the study of the Law to their studies he suits Academical Societies on the Universities he bestows Lands and Tithes on the Synagogues he bestows Tithes and University men And the Schools of the Prophets were little Universities and Colleges of Students For their Governor they had some Venerable Prophet inspired with the Holy Spirit and that partook of Divine Revelations The Scholars were not inspired indeed with the same Prophetical Spirit but received Prophesies from the mouth of their Master He revealed to them those things that were revealed to him of the Will of God and the state of the people of the times and events of Israel and above all of the Mysteries of the Gospel of the Messias of his coming times death resurrection and those things that were to be done by him In these small Universities the Prophets who prophesied of the grace that should come as the Apostle Peter speaks enquired diligently of Salvation searching what or what manner of time that was which was pointed out by the Spirit of Christ that was in them when he foretold the sufferings of Christ and the Glory that should follow These things not to be fetched out by the meer and bare study of the
believe this People that flocked to Johns baptism were so forgetful of the manner and custom of the Nation that they brought not their little children also with them to be baptized Some things are now to be spoken of the manner and form which John used First In some things he seems to have followed the manner whereby Proselytes were baptized in other things not to have followed them Concerning it the Talmudic Canons have these sayings I. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 r r r r r r Ievamoth fol. 46. 2. They do not baptise a Proselyte by night Nor indeed s s s s s s Megilla◠fol. 20. 1. were the unclean to be washed but in the day time Maimonides adds t t t t t t Issure Biah cap. 13. They baptized not a Proselyte on the Sabbath nor on a holy day nor by night II. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 u u u u u u Ievam. in the place above A Proselyte hath need of three that is It is required that three men who are Scholars of the Wisemen be present at the Baptism of a Proselyte who may take care that the business be rightly performed and may briefly instruct the Catechumen the person to be baptized and may iudge of the matter it self For the admission of a Proselyte was reckoned no light matter 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 x x x x x x Ievam. fol. 47. 2. Proselytes are dangerous to Israel like the itch was an Axiom For they either tenacious of their former customs or ignorant of the Law of Israel have corrupted others with their Example or being mingled with Israel were the cause that the divine glory did rest the less upon them it resteth not on any but upon families of a nobler pedegree These reasons the Glossers give When therefore the admission of Proselytes was of so great moment they were not to be admitted but by the judicial consistory of Three III. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 y y y y y y Maimonid Issur Biah in the place above They baptize a Proselyte in such a confluence of waters as was fit for the washing of a menstruous woman Of such a confluence of waters the Lawyers have these words z z z z z z Maim in Mikvaoth c. 1. 4 Talmud in Mikvaoth c. 2. 3 A man that hath the Gonorrhea is cleansed no where but in a fountain but a menstruous woman as also all other unclean persons were washed in some confluence of waters in which so much water ought to be as may serve to wash the whole body at one dipping Our wise men have esteemed this proportion to be to a cubit square and three cubits depth and this measure contains forty Seahs of water When it is said that he that hath the Gonorrhea is to wash in a spring or a stream but a menstruous woman and all other unclean persons in some confluence of waters it forbids not a menstruous woman and other unclean persons to wash in streams where they might but it permits where they might not to wash in some confluence of waters which was not lawful for a man that had the Gonorrhea to do The same is to be understood concerning the Baptism of a Proselyte who was allowed to wash himself in streams and was allowed also where there were no streams to wash in a confluence of waters IV. When a Proselyte was to be baptized they first asked him concerning the sincerity of his Conversion to Judaism Whether he offered not himself to Proselytism for the obtaining riches for fear or for love to some Israelite woman c. And when they saw that he came out of love of the Law they instructed him concerning the various articles of the Law of one God of the evil of Idolatry of the reward of Obedience of the World to come of the privileges of Israel c. All which if he professed that he embraced them he is forthwith circumcised a a a a a a Ievam. Maimon in the places above As soon as he grows whole of the wound of circumcision they bring him to Baptism and being placed in the water they again instruct him in some weightier and in some lighter commands of the Law 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Which being heard he plungeth himself and comes up and behold he is as an Israelite in all things The women place a woman in the waters up to the neck and two Disciples of the Wisemen standing without instruct her about some lighter precepts of the Law and some weightier while she in the mean time stands in the waters 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And then she plungeth her self and they turning away their faces go out while she comes up out of the water In the baptizing of a Proselyte this is not to be passed over but let it be observed namely that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 others baptized him and that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he baptized himself or dipped or plunged himself in the waters Now what that plunging was you may understand from those things which Maimonides speaks in Mikvaoth in the place before cited 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Every person baptized or dipped whether he were washed from pollution or baptized into Proselytism must dip his whole body now stripped and made naked at one dipping And wher esoever in the Law washing of the body or garments is mentioned it means nothing else than the washing of the whole body For if any wash himself all over except the very top of his little finger he is still in his uncleanness And if any hath much hair he must wash all the hair of his head for that also was reckoned for the body But if any should enter into the water with their cloths on yet their washing holds good because the water would pass through their cloths and their garments would not hinder it And now a little to compare the baptism of John with that Proselytical baptism and ours with both these things are to be considered I. If you compare the washing of polluted persons prescribed by the Law with the baptism of Proselytes both that and this implies uncleanness however something different that implies legal uncleanness this Heathen but both polluting But a Proselyte was baptized not only into the washing off of that Gentile pollution nor only thereby to be transplanted into the Religion of the Jews but that by the most accurate rite of translation that could possibly be he might so pass into an Israelite that being married to an Israelite woman he might produce a free and legitimate seed and an undefiled off-spring Hence servants that were taken into a family were baptized and servants also that were to be made free Not so much because they were defiled with heathen uncleanness as that by that rite 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 becoming Israelites in all respect they might be more fit to match with Israelites and their children be accounted as Israelites
And hence the sons of Proselytes in following generations were circumcised indeed but not baptized They were circumcised that they might take upon themselves the obligation of the Law but they needed not baptism because they were already Israelites From these things it is plain that there was some difference as to the end between the Mosaical washings of unclean persons and the baptism of Proselytes and some between the Baptism of Proselytes and John's baptism Not as though they concurred not in some parallel end but because other ends were added over and above to this or that or some ends were withdrawn II. The Baptism of Proselytes was the bringing over of Gentiles into the Jewish Religion The Baptism of John was the bringing over of Jews into another Religion And hence t is the more to be wondered at that the people so readily flockt to him when he introduced a Baptism so different from the known Proselytical baptism The reason of which is to be fetcht from hence that at the coming of the Messias they thought not without cause that the state of things was plainly to be changed and that from the Oracles of the Prophets who with one mouth described the times of the Messias for a new World Hence was that received opinion 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That God at that time would renew the World for a thousand years See the Aruch in the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and after in Chap. 24. 3. And that also that they used 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the world to come by a form of speech very common among them for the times of the Messias which we observe more largely elsewhere III. The baptism of Proselytes was an obligation to perform the Law that of John was an obligation to repentance for although Proselytical baptism admitted of some ends and Circumcisiou of others yet a Traditional and erroneous Doctrine at that time had joyned this to both that the Proselyte covenanted in both and oblig'd himself to perform the Law to which that of the Apostle relates Gal. V. 3. I testifie again to every man that is circumcised that he is a debtor to do the whole Law But the baptism of John was a baptism of repentance Mark I. 4. which being undertaken they who were baptized professed to renounce their own legal righteousness and on the contrary acknowledged themselves to be obliged to repentance and faith in the Messias to come How much the Pharisaical doctrine of Justification differed from the Evangelical so much the obligation undertaken in the baptism of Proselytes differed from the obligation undertaken in the baptism of John Which obligation also holds amongst Christians to the end of the World IV. That the baptism of John was by plunging the body after the same manner as the washing of unclean persons and the baptism of Proselytes was seems to appear from those things which are related of him namely that he baptized in Jordan that he baptized in Enon because there was much water there and that Christ being baptized came up out of the water to which that seems to be parallel Act. VIII 38. Philip and the Eunuch went down into the water c. Some complain that this rite is not retained in the Christian Church as though it something derogated from the truth of baptism or as though it were to be called an innovation when the sprinkling of water is used instead of plunging This is no place to dispute of these things Let us return these three things only for a present answer 1. That the notion of washing in John's baptism differs from ours in that he baptized none who were not brought over from one Religion and that an irreligious one too into another and that a true one But there is no place for this among us who are born Christians the condition therefore being varied the rite is not only lawfully but deservedly varied also Our baptism argues defilement indeed and uncleanness and demonstrates this doctrinally that we being polluted have need of washing but this is to be understood of our natural and sinful stain to be washed away by the blood of Christ and the grace of God with which stain indeed they were defiled who were baptized by John But to denote this washing by a Sacramental sign the sprinkling of water is as sufficient as the dipping into water when in truth this argues washing and purification as well as that But those who were baptized by John were blemished with another stain and that an outward one and after a manner visible that is a polluted religion namely Judaism or Heathenism from which if according to the custom of the Nation they past by a deeper and severer washing they neither underwent it without reason nor with any reason may it be laid upon us whose condition is different from theirs 2. Since Dipping was a rite used only in the Jewish Nation and proper to it it were something hard if all Nations should be subjected under it but especially when it is neither necessarily to be esteemed of the essence of baptism and is moreover so harsh and dangerous that in regard of these things it scarcely gave place to Circumcision We read that some leavened with Judaism to the highest degree yet wish't that Dipping in Purification might be taken away because it was accompanied with so much severity b b b b b b Hieros Beracoth fol. 6. 3. In the days of R. Joshua ben Levi some endeavoured to abolish this dipping for the sake of the women of Galilee because by reason of the cold they became barren R. Joshua ben Levi said unto them do ye go about to take away that which hedges in Israel from transgression Surely it is hard to lay this yoke upon the neck of all Nations which seemed too rough to the Jews themselves and not to be born by them men too much given to such kind of severer rites And if it be demanded of them who went about to take away that dipping Would you have no purification at all by water It is probable that they would have allowed of the sprinkling of water which is less harsh and not less agreeable to the thing it self 3. The following ages with good reason and by Divine Prescript administred a Baptism differing in a greater matter from the Baptism of John and therefore it was less to differ in a less matter The application of water was necessarily of the essence of Baptism but the application of it in this or that manner speaks but a circumstance The adding also of the word was of the nature of a Sacrament but the changing of the word into this or that form would you not call this a circumstance also And yet we read the form of Baptism so changed that you may observe it to have been threefold in the history of the New Testament Secondly In reference to the form of John's Baptism which thing we have propounded
to the study of the Law The reason of the number of ten though lean and empty enough is given in the Talmud and it is this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 f f f f f f Sanhedr cap. 4. hal 6. A Congregation consists of Ten which they prove hence because it is said 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 How long shall I bear with this evil Congregation c. Numb XIV 27. Take away Josua and Caleb and there remain only ten namely of the spies of the land II. Of these Ten Men 1. Three bare the Magistracy and were called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Bench of three Whose office it was to decide the differences arising between the members of the Synagogue and to take care about other matters of the Synagogue These judged concerning mony matters thefts losses restitutions of ravishing a Virgin of a man inticing a Virgin of the admission of Proselytes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 laying on of hands and divers other things of which see the Tract g g g g g g Cap. 4. hal â— 2. Sanhedrin These were properly and with good reason called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Rulers of the Synagogue because on them laid the chief care of things and the chief Power 2. Besides these there was the publick Minister of the Synagogue who prayed publickly and took care about the reading of the Law and sometimes preached if there were not some other to discharge this office This person was called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Angel of the Church and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Chazan or Bishop of the Congregation The Aruch gives the reason of the name The * * * * * * Chazan Chazan saith he is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Angel of the Church or the publick Minister and the Targum renders the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 One that oversees 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 For it is incumbent on him to oversee how the Reader reads and whom he may call out to read in the Law The publick Minister of the Synagogue himself read not the Law publickly but every Sabbath he called out seven of the Synagogue on other days fewer whom he judged fit to read He stood by him that read with great care observing that he read nothing either falsely or improperly and calling him back and correcting him if he had failed in any thing And hence he was called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Overseer Certainly the signification of the word Bishop and Angel of the Church had been determined with less noyse if recourse had been made to the proper fountains and men had not vainly disputed about the signification of words taken I know not whence The service and worship of the Temple being abolished as being ceremonial God transplanted the worship and publick adoration of God used in the Synagogues which was moral into the Christian Church to wit the publick Ministry publick Prayers reading Gods Word and Preaching c. Hence the names of the Ministers of the Gospel were the very same The Angel of the Church and The Bishop which belonged to the Ministers in the Synagogues 3. There were also three Deacons or Almoners on whom was the care of the poor and these were called Parnasim or Pastors And these seven perhaps were reputed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The seven good men of the City of whom there is frequent remembrance in the Talmudists Of these Parnasim we shall only produce these things There were two who demanded alms of the Towns men and they were called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 h h h h h h Maimon in Sanhedr cap. 1. The two collectors of Alms. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 To whom was added a third to distribute it i i i i i i Hieros Peah fol. 21. 1. R. Chelbo in the name of R. Ba Bar Zabda saith They do not make fewer than three Parnasin For I see the judgments about many matters to be managed by three therefore much more these which concern life R. Josi in the name of R. Jochanan saith They do not make two brethren Parnasim R. Josi went to Chephar intending there to set Parnasim over them but they received him not He went away after he had said these words before them Ben Bebai was only set over the threeded linnen of the Lamps and yet he was reckoned worthy to be numbred with the eminent men of that age See Shekalim Chap. 5. Ye who are set over the lives of men how much more are ye so R. Chaggai when he appointed the Parnasin argued to them out of the Law all dominion that is given is given from the Law By me Kings reign R. Chaiia bar Ba 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 set 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Rulers over them that is he appointed Parnasin R. Lazar was a Parnas This perhaps holds out a light to those words of the Aposte 1 Tim. III. 13. They that have performed the office of a Deacon well have obtained to themselves a good degree that is being faithful in their care and provision for the poor as to their corporal life they may well be Probationers for the care of Souls For when those Parnasin as also all the Ten were learned and studious they might with good reason be preferred from the care of Bodies to that of Souls The Apostles Deacons are to be reckoned also of the same Learned and Studious rank And now let us turn our Eyes a little from the Synagogues to Christian Churches in the history of the New Testament When the Romans permitted the Jewish Synagogues to use their own laws and proper government why I pray should there not be the same toleration allowed to the Apostolical Churches The Roman censure had as yet made no difference between the Judaizing Synagogues of the Jews and the Christian Synagogues or Churches of Jews nor did it permit them to live afâ—er their own Laws and forbid these I am not therefore afâ—raid to assert that the Churches of that first age were wanting to themselves if they took not up the same liberty of government as the Romans allowed the Jewish Synagogues to use And I do not think that was said by the Apostle 1 Cor. VI. 2 3 c. without this foundation Therefore this power of their own government being allowed them if so be they were minded to enjoy what they might how easily may those words of the Apostle be understood which have so wracked Learned Men shall I say or which have been so wracked by them 1 Tim. V. 17. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Let the Elders that rule well c. 4. We may reckon the eighth man of these Ten to be the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is the Interpreter in the Synagogue who being skilled in the Tongues and standing by him that read in the Law rendred in the Mother Tongue verse by verse those things that were read
the other side of Amana Many Nations were united into one Language that is the old Syriac namely the Chaldeans the Mesopotamians the Assyrians the Syrians Of these some were the sons of Sem and some of Cham. Though all had the same Language it is no wonder if all had not the same letters The Assyrians and Israelites refer their original to Sem these had the Assyrian writing the sons of Cham that inhabited beyond Euphrates had another perhaps that which is now called by us the Samaritane which it may be the sons of Cham the Canaanites used III. That the Law was given by Moses in Assyrian letters is the opinion as you see of some Talmudists and that indeed the sounder by much For to think that the Divine Law was writ in characters proper to the cursed seed of Cham it agreeable neither to the dignity of the Law nor indeed to reason it self They that assert the Mother writing was Assyrian do indeed confess that the characters of the Law were changed but this was done by reason of the sin of the people and through negligence For when under the first Temple the Israelites degenerated into Canaanitish manners perhaps they used the letters of the Canaanites which were the same with those of the Inhabitants beyond Euphrates These words of theirs put the matter out of doubt The Law was given to Israel in the Assyrian writing in the days of Moses but when they sinned under the first Temple and contemned the Law it was changed into breaking to them Therefore according to these mens opinion the Assyrian writing was the Original of the Law and endured and obtained unto the degenerate age under the first Temple Then they think it was changed into the writing used beyond Euphrates or the Samaritane or if you will the Canaanitish if so be these were not one and the same but by Ezra it was at last restored into the original Assyrian Truly I wonder that Learned Men should attribute so much to this tradition for whence else they have received their Opinion I do not understand that they should think that the primitive writing of the Law was in Samaritane seeing that which the Gemarists assert concerning the changing of the characters rests upon so brittle and tottering a foundation that it is much more probable that there was no change at all but that the Law was first writ in Assyrian by Moses and in the Assyrian also by Ezra because the change cannot be built and established upon stronger arguments A second question might follow concerning Keri and Chethib and a suspicion might also arise that the Text of the Law was not preserved perfect to one Jot and one Tittle when so many various readings do so frequently occur Concerning this business we will offer these few things only that so we may return to our task 1. These things are delivered by Tradition 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 q q q q q q Hieros Taâ—nitâ— fol. 68. 1. They found three books in the Court 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The book 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Meoni The book 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Zaatuti and the book 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Hi. In one they found written 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The eternal God is thy refuge but in the two other they found it written 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Deut. XXXIII 27. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 They approved or confirmed those two but rejected that one In one they found written 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 But in two it was written 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And he sent young men of the children of Israel Exod. XXIV 5. Those two they confirmed but that one they rejected In one they found written 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 She was nine but in the two was written 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 She was eleven those two they confirmed and that one they rejected I do much suspect that these three books laid up in the Court answered to the threefold Congregation of the Jews namely in Judea Babylon and Egypt whence these copies might be particularly taken For however that Nation was scattered abroad almost throughout the whole World yet by number and companies scarcely to be numbred it more plentifully encreased in these three Countries than any where else In Judea by those that returned from Babylon in Babylon by those that returned not and in Egypt by the Temple of Onias The two Copies that agreed I judge to be out of Judea and Babylon that that differed to be out of Egypt and this last I suspect by this that the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Zaatuti smells of the seventy Interpreters whom the Jews of Egypt might be judged by the very sake of the place to favour more than any elsewhere r r r r r r Massecheth Sopherim cap. 1 art 8. For it is asserted by the Jewish Writers that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 was one of those changes which the Septuagint brought into the sacred Text. II. It is therefore very probable that the Keri and Chethib was compacted from the comparing of the two Copies of the greatest authority that is the Jewish and the Babylonian which when they differed from one another in so many places in certain little dashes of writing but little or nothing at all as to the sense by very sound counsil they provided that both should be reserved so that both Copies might have their worth preserved and the sacred Text its purity and fulness whilst not one jot nor one tittle of it perished VERS XXI 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ye have heard THAT is ye have received it by Tradition 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 s s s s s s Sanhedr cap. 11. hal 1. If they havâ— heard that is learned by tradition they speak to them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 They learned by hearing that is by Tradition a saying very frequent in Maimonides 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That it was said by them of old time That is It is an old Tradition For the particular passages of the Law which are here cited by our Saviour are not produced as the bare words of Moses but as cloathed in the Glosses of the Scribes which most plainly appears above the rest vers 43. and sufficiently in this first allegation where those words Whosoever shall kill shall be guilty of the judgment do hold out the false paint of Tradition and as we observe in the following verses such as misrepresents the Law and makes it of none effect If it be asked why Christ makes mention of those of old time It may be answered that the memory of the antienter Fathers of the Traditions was venerable among the people Reverend was the name 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of the first good men and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the first wise men Therefore Christ chose to confute their Doctrines and Glosses that he might more clearly prove the vanity of Traditions when he reproved their most famous men But the sense which
cap. 3. hal 2. One is bound to swear to his neighbour and he saith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Vow or swear to me by the life of thy Head c. VERS XXXIV 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Swear not at all IN the Tract Demai t t t t t t Cap. 2. hâ—lac 3. are some rules prescribed to a religious man among others That he be not too much 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in swearing and laughing Where the Gloss of R. Solomon is this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 means this Be not much in oaths although one should swear concerning things that are true for in much swearing it is impossible not to profane Our Saviour with good reason binds his followers with a straiter bond permitting no place at all for a voluntary and arbitrary oath The sense of these words goes in the middle way between the Jew who allowed some place for an arbitrary oath and the Anabaptist who allows none for a necessary one VERS XXXVI 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Thou canst not make one hair white or black That is Thou canst not put on gray hairs or lay them aside VERS XXXVII 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Let your communication be yea yea nay nay IN Hebrew 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 u u u u u u Maimon in Pâ—ab cap. 5. Giving and receiving that is business among the disciples of the wise men 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Let it be in Truth and Faith by saying Yes yes No no or according to the very words concerning Yes yes concerning No no. x x x x x x Gittin cap. 7. hal 1. If it be said to a Lunatick shall we write a bill of Divorce for your wife And he nod with his head they try thrice and if he answer 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to No no and to Yes yes they write it and give it to his wife VERS XXXVIII 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Ye have heard that it hath been said An eye for an eye c. THIS Law he also cites as clothed in the Gloss of the Scribes and now received in the Jewish Schools But they resolved the Law not into a just retaliation but into a pecuniary compensation y y y y y y Bava Kama cap. 8. Maimon in 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 cap. 1. Does any cut off the hand or foot of his neighbour They value this according to the example of selling a servant computing at what price he would be sold before he was maimed and for how much less now he is maimed And how much of the price is diminished so much is to be paid to the maimed person as it is said An eye for an eye c. We have received by Tradition that this is to be understood of pecuniary satisfaction But whereas it is said in the Law If a man cause a blemish in his neighbour the same shall be done to him Lev. XXIV 19. It means not that he should be maimed as he hath maimed another but when he deserveth maiming he deserveth to pay the damage to the person maimed They seemed out of very great charity to soften that severe Law to themselves when nevertheless in the mean time little care was taken of lively charity and of the forgiving an offence an open door being still left them to exaction and revenge which will appear in what follows VERS XXXIX 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Whosoever shall smite thee on thy right cheek THAT the Doctrine of Christ may here more clearly shine out let the Jewish Doctrine be set against it to which he opposeth his z z z z z z Bava Kama cap. 8. hal 6. Does any one give his neighbour a box on the ear let him give him a shilling R. Judah in the name of R. Josi of Galilee saith Let him give him a pound 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Does he give him a blow upon the cheek Let him give him two hundred Zuzees if with the other hand let him give four hundred Compare with this passage ver 39. If any shall strike thee on the right cheek turn to him the other also 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Does he twitch him by the ear or does he pull off his hair or does he spit so that his spittle falls upon him or does he take away his coat Note this also and compare ver 40. with it He that will take away thy coat c. or does he uncover a womans head in publick Let him give four hundred Zuzees They fetch the reason of so severe a mulct chiefly from the shame done him that is thus injured and from the disgrace of the thing it self and moreover from the dignity of an Israelite which is declared at large by the Gemarists upon the words cited and by a a a a a a In 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 cap. 1 2 3 c. Maimonides 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Those mulcts say they are established and inflicted according to the dignity of the person injured But R. Akibah said Even the poorest Israelites are to be esteemed as though they were persons of quality divested of their estates because they are the Sons of Abraham Isaac and Jacob. Hence the entrance to our Saviours Doctrine lyes easie 1. He cites the Law of retaliation that by laying one against the other Christian charity and forgiveness might shine the clearer 2. He mentions these particulars which seemed to be the most unworthy and not to be born by the high quality of a Jew that he might the more preach up Evangelical humility and patience and self-denial But why was the law of retaliation given if at last it is melted down into this On the same reason as the Law of death was given concerning Adultery Namely for terror and to demonstrate what the sin was Both were to be softned by charity this by forgiveness that by a bill of divorce or if the husband so pleased by forgiveness also VERS XL. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. And if any will sue thee at the Law and take away thy coat c. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 coat that is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Talith So in the words of the Talmud alledged 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 He takes his Coat Of this garment thus the Aruch 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Talith is a cloak And why is it called Talith Because it is above all the garments that is because it is the outermost garment In this upper garment were woven in those fringes that were to put them in mind of the law of which there is mention Numb XV. 38. Hence is that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 b b b b b b Bab. Sâ—habb fol. 23. 2. He that takes care of his skirts deserves a good coat Hereupon the disgrace was encreased together with the wrong when that was taken away concerning which they did not a little boast nay and in which they placed no small religion Mat. XXIII 5. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉
tramples under his feet whatsoever is given him is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Cardiacus troubled in mind And a little after 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 One while he is mad another while he is well while he is mad he is to be esteemed for a mad man in respect of all his actions while he is well he is to be esteemed for one that is his own man in all respects See what we say at Ch. XVII ver 15. VERS XXX 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 An heard of many swine feeding WERE these Gadarens Jews or Heathens I. It was a matter of infamy for a Jew to keep swine k k k k k k Hieros Shekalim fol. 47. 3. R. Jonah had a very red face which a certain woman seeing said thus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Seignior Seignior either you are a Winebibber or a Usurer or a keeper of hogs II. It was forbidden by the Canon l l l l l l Maimon in Nizke Mammon cap. 5. The Wise men forbad to keep hogs any where and a dog unless he were chained Hogs upon a twofold account 1. By reason of the hurt and dammage that they would bring to other mens feilds Generally m m m m m m Bava Kama cap. 7. hal 7. the keeping of smaller cattle was forbid in the Land of Israel among which you may very well reckon hogs even in the first place And the reason is given by the Gemarists That they â—â—eak not into other mens grounds 2. The feeding of hogs is more particularly forbidden for their uncleanness For 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 It is forbidden to trade in any thing that is unclean n n n n n n Gloss. in Kama in the place above III. Yea it was forbid under a curse The o o o o o o Maimon in the place before Wise men say Cursed is he that keeps dogs and swine because from them ariseth much harm p p p p p p Bab. Kama fol. 82. 2. Let no man keep hogs any where The Rabbins deliver When the Asmonean family were in hostility among themselves Hyrcanus was beseiged within Jerusalem and Aristobulus was without The besieged sent mony in a box let down by a rope and they which were without bought with it the daily sacrifices which were drawn up by those that were within Among the beseigers there was one skilled in the Greek learning who said As long as they thus perform the service of the Temple they will not be delivered into your hands The next day therefore they let down their mony and these sent them back a hog When the hog was drawing up and came to the middle of the Wall he fixed his hoofs to the Wall and the Land of Israel was shaken c. From that time they said Cursed be he who keeps hogs and cursed be he who teacheth his son the Wisdom of the Greeks This Story is cited in q q q q q q fol. 64. 2. Menacoth Therefore you will wonder and not without cause at that which is related in their Talmud r r r r r r Bab. Taanith fol. 21. 2. They said sometimes to Rabh Judah There is a plague among the Swine He therefore appoynted a fast What Is a Jew concerned for a plague among swine But the reason is added For Rabh Judah thought that a stroak laid upon one kind of cattle would invade all You may not therefore improperly guess that these hogs belonged not to the Jews but to the Heathen dwelling among the Gadaren Jews for such a mixture was very usual in the Cities and Countries of the land of Israel Which we observe elsewhere of the Town Susitha or Hippo but some small distance from Gadara Or if you grant that they were Jews their manners will make that opinion probable as being persons whose highest Law the purse and profit was wont to be Since Brawn and Swines flesh were of so great account with the Romans and other Heathens there is no reason to believe that a Jew was held so straightly by his Canons as to value them before his own profit when there was hope of gain CHAP. IX VERS IX 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 He saw a man sitting at the receit of custom called Matthew FIVE Disciples of Christ are mentioned by the Talmudists among whom Matthew seems to be named a a a a a a Bab. Sanhedr fol. 43. â— The Rabbins deliver There were five Disciples of Jesus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Mathai Nakai Nezer Boni Thodah These they relate were led out and killed See the place Perhaps five are only mentioned by them because five of the Disciples were chiefly employed among the Jews in Judea namely Matthew who wrote his Gospel there Peter James John and Judas Matthew seems to have set in the Custom-house of Capernaum near the Sea to gather some certain â—ole or rate of those that sailed over See Mark Ch. II. 13 14. b b b b b b Schabb. cap. 8. hal 2. He that produceth paper on the Sabbath in which a Publicans note is writ and he that produceth a Publicans note is guilty The Gloss is When any pays tribute to the Lord of the River or when he excuses him his tribute he certifies the Publican by a note or some Bill of free commerce that he hath remitted him his duty and it was customary in it to write two Letters greater than ours See also the Gemara there VERS XIV 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 We and the Pharisees fast oft MOnsters rather than stories are related of the Pharisees fasts 1. It is known to all from Luk. XVIII 12. that they were wont to fast twice every week The rise of which custom you may fetch from this Tradition c c c c c c Bab. Bava Kama fol. 82. 1 Ezra decreed ten decrees He appointed the publick reading of the Law the second and fifth days of the week and again on the Sabbath at the Mincha or Evening-service he instituted the Session of the Judges in Cities on the second and fifth days of the week c. Of this matter discourse is had elsewhere f f f f f f Hieros in Megill fol. 75. 1. If you ask the reason why the decree was made concerning the second and fift days c. We must answer saith the Gloss from that which is said in Midras concerning Moses namely that he went up into the Mount to receive the second Tables on the fifth day of the week and came down God being now appeased the second day When therefore that ascent and descent was a time of grace they so determined of the second and fifth day And therefore they were wont to fast also on the second and fifth day II. It was not seldom that they enjoyned themselves fasts for this end to have lucky dreams or to attain the interpretation of some dream or to turn away the ill import
he propounded more plainly and familiarly II. But however it was whether those things were true indeed or only believed and conceived so by a most apt and open comparison is shewn that the Devil was first cast out of the Jewish Nation by the Gospel and then seeking for a seat and rest among the Gentiles and not finding it the Gospel every where vexing him came back into the Jewish Nation again fixed his seat there and possessed it much more than he had done before The truth of this thing appears in that fearful Apostasie of an infinite multitude of Jews who received the Gospel and most wickedly revolted from it afterwards concerning which the New Testament speaks in abundance of places CHAP. XIII VERS II. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 So that he sate and the whole multitude stood SO was the manner of the nation that the Masters when they read their lectures sate and the Scholars stood Which Honorary custom continued to the death of Gamaliel the Elder and then so far ceased that the Scholars sate when their Masters sate Hence is that passage a a a a a a Sotah cap. 9. hal 15. From that time that old Rabban Gamaliel died the Honor of the Law perished and purity and Pharisaism died Where the Gloss from Megillah writes thus Before his death health was in the world and they learned the Law standing but when he was dead sickness came down into the world and they were compelled to learn the Law sitting VERS III. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 In Parables I. NO Scheme of Jewish Retoric was more familiarly used than that of parables which perhaps creeping in from thence among the Heathen ended in Fables It is said in the place of the Talmud just now cited 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 From the time that R. Meri died those that spake in Parables ceased not that that Figure of Rhetoric perished in the Nation from that time but because he surpassed all others in these flowers as the Gloss there from the Tract Sanhedrin speaks 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 A third part of his discourses or sermons was Tradition a third part Allegory and a third part Parable The Jewish books abound every where with these Figures the Nation enclining by a kind of Natural Genius to this kind of Rhetoric One might not amiss call their Religion Parabolical folded up within the Coverings of Ceremonies and their Oratory in their Sermons was like to it But it is a wonder indeed that they who were so given to and delighted in Parables and so dextrous in unfolding them should stick in the outward Shell of Ceremonies and should not have fetched out the Parabolical and spiritual sense of them neither should be able to fetch them out II. Our Saviour who always and every where spake with the vulgar useth the same kind of speech and very often the same preface as they did in their Parables 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. To what is it likened c. But in him thus speaking one may both acknowledg the divine Justice who speaks darkly to them that despise the light and his divine Wisdom likewise who so speaks to them that see and yet see not that they may see the shell and not see the Kernel VERS IV. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Some fell by the way side c. COcerning the husbandry of the Jews and their manner of sowing we meet with various passages in the Tracts Peah Demai Kilaim Sheviith We shall only touch upon those things which the words of the Text under our hands do readily remind us of There were ways and paths as well common as more private along the sown fields see Chap. XII 1. hence in the tract b b b b b b Cap. 2. Peah where they dispute what those things are which divide a field so that it owes a double corner to the poor thus it is determined These things divide a River an Aqueduct a private way a common way a common path and a private path c. See the place and the Gloss. VERS V. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Some fell among stony places c c c c c c In Hieros Kilaim fol. 27. 1. DIscourse is had concerning some laws of the Kilaim or of the seeds of different kinds and of the seventh year where among other things we meet with these words R. Simeon ben Lachish saith That he is freed from those Laws who sows his seed by the Sea 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Upon rocks Shelves and rocky places These words are spoken according to the reason and nature of the land of Israel which was very rocky and yet those places that were so were not altogether unfit for tillage VERS VII 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Others fell among thorns HERE the distinction comes into my mind of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a white field that is which is all sowen and of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a woody field that is in which trees and bushes grow here and there Concerning which see the Tract d d d d d d Chap. 2. Sheviith So there is very frequent mention in the Talmudists of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Beds in fields and vineyards e e e e e e Peah cap. 2. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which speaks the same thing f f f f f f Kilaim c. 3. And of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Baldness in a field that is when some places are left not sowen and some places lying between are g g g g g g Kilaim c. 4. VERS VIII 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. And brought forth fruit some an hundred c. THESE words are spoken according to the fruitfulness of the land of Israel concerning which the Talmudists speak much and hyperbolically enough which nevertheless they confess to be turned long since into miserable barrenness but are dim-sighted as to the true cause of it h h h h h h Hieros Peah fol. 20. 1 2. They treat of this matter and various stories are produced which you may see we will only mention these two R. Jochanan said The worst fruit which we eat in our youth excelled the best which we now eat in our old age for in his days the World was changed R. Chaijah bar Ba said 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Arbelite bushel formerly yelded a bushel of flower a bushel of meal a bushel of bran and a bushel of course bran and a bushel of courser bran yet and a bushel of the coursest bran also but now one bushel scarcely comes from one bushel VERS XIII 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. They seeing see not HERE you may observe this people to have been given up to a reprobate mind and a spirit of deep sleep now a great while before the death of Christ Which being observed the sense of the Apostle will more easily appear Rom. XI where these very words are repeated If you there state aright the
Chap. and therefore they thought themselves not much obliged by it But if they swore 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Corban they supposed they were bound by an indispensable tye For example if any one should swear thus By the Temple or By the Altar my Money my Cattel my Goods shall not profit you It was lawful nevertheless for the swearer if he pleas'd to suffer them to be profited by these but if he should swear thus Korban my gold is for the Temple Korban my Cattel are for the Altar this could no ways be dispensed with VERS XXIII 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Ye pay tythe of mint I. THIS is the general rule about tythes Whatsoever serves for food whatsoever is kept that is which is not of common right and whatsoever grows out of the earth shall be tythed o o o o o o Maasaroth Chap. 1. Hal. 1. II. According to the Law Cattle Corn and Fruit were to be tythed the way and measure of which as the Scribes teach was this Of bread-corn that is threshed and winnowed 1. A fifth part is taken out for the Priest this was called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the great offering 2. A tenth part of the remainder belonged to the Levite this was called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the first Tenth or Tythe 3. A tenth part again was to be taken out of the remainder and was â—â— be eaten at Jerusalem or else redeemed this was called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the second Tythe 4. The Levite gives a tenth part out of his to the Priest this was called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Tythe of the Tythe These are handled at large in Peah Demai Maaseroth c. III. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Tything of herbs is from the Rabbins p p p p p p Bab. Joma fol. 83. 2. This Tything was added by the Scribes and yet approved of by our Saviour when he saith Ye ought not to have left these undone Hear this O thou who opposest Tythes The Tything of herbs was only of Ecclesiastical institution and yet it hath the authority of our Saviour to confirm it Ye ought not to have left these things undone and that partly upon account of the justice of the thing it self and the agreeableness of it to Law and reason partly that it was commanded by the Council sitting in Moses Chair as it is ver 2. IV. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 mint This is sometimes called by the Talmudists q q q q q q Sheviith Chap. 1. Hal. 1. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and is reckoned among those things which come under the Law of the seventh year Where Rambam saith In the Aruch it is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Minta It is called sometimes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 r r r r r r Oketsim Cap. 1. Hal. 2. Mintha Where R. Solomon writes In the Aruch it is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Mint in the Mother tongue and it hath a sweet smell therefore they strow it in Synagogues for sake of its scent 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Annise In the Talmudists 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 s s s s s s Oketsim Ch. 3. Hal. 4. where R. Solomon 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is a kind of herb and is tythed both as to the seed and herb it self Rambam writes thus It is eaten raw after meat and is not to be boiled while therefore it is not boiled it comes under the Law of Tything The Gloss in Bab. Avodah Zarah t t t t t t Fol. 7. 2. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the Roman language is Anethum Annise and is tythed whether it be gathered green or ripe 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Cummin with the Talmudists 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 It is reckoned among things that are to be tythed u u u u u u Demai Chap. Hal 1. VERS XXVII 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ye are like whited Sepulchres SEpulchres are distinguished by the Masters of the Jews into 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a deep Sepulchre which cannot be known to be a Sepulchre 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Graves that appear not w w w w w w Luk. XI 44. and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a painted Sepulchre such as were all those that were known to be seen Our Saviour compares the Scribes and Pharisees to both to those in the place of Luke last mentioned to these in the place before us each upon a different reason Concerning the whiting of Sepulchres there are these Traditions x x x x x x Shekalim Chap. 1. Hal. 1. In the fifteenth day of the month Adar they mend the ways and the streets and the common Sewers and perform those things that concern the publick 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And they paint or mark the Sepulchres The manner is described in Maasar Sheni 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 y y y y y y Ch. 1. Hal. 1. They paint the Sepulchres with chalk tempered and infused in water The Jerusalem Gemarists give the reason of it in abundance of places Do they not mark the Sepulchres say they before the month Adar Yes but it is supposed that the colours are wiped off For what cause do they paint them so That this matter may be like the case of the leper The leprous man crieth out Unclean unclean and here in like manner uncleanness crys out to you and saith Come not near R Illa in the name of R. Samuel bar Nachman alledgeth that of Ezekiel z z z z z z Ezek. XXXIX 15. If one passing through the land seeth a mans bone he shall set up a burial sign by it a a a a a a See Jerus Maasar Sheni fol. 55. 3. Moedkaton fol. 80. 2 3. Sotah fol. 23. 3. The Glossers deliver both the reason and the manner of it thus From the fifteenth day of the month Adar they began their search and wheresoever they found a Sepulchre whose whiting was washed off with the rain they renewed it that the unclean place might be discerned and the Priests who were to eat the Truma might avoid it b b b b b b Gloss on Shekalim and again on Maasar Sheni They marked the Sepulchres with chalk in the likeness of bones and mixing it with water they washed the Sepulchre all about with it that thereby all might know that that place was unclean and therefore to be avoided Concerning this matter also the Gloss on Bab. Moed katon c c c c c c Fol. 5. 10. speaks They made marks like bones on the Sepulchres with white chalk c. See the place VERS XXVIII 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Even so ye also outwardly appear righteous to men SUCH kind of hypocrites are called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 distained or coloured Jannai the King d Bab. Sotah fol. 22. 2. when he was dying warned his wife that she should take heed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of painted men
a family with his family It would be ridiculous to suppose that these chief Priests supped together while in the mean time their families sat down at home without their head It is required by the Law that every master of a family should be with his family that night instructing them and performing sacred rites with and for them These were therefore to be sought from house to house by Judas if that were the first time of his treating with them about this matter and let reason answer whether that little time he had were sufficient for this we affirm therefore with the authority of the Evangelists that that Supper Joh. XIII was before the Passover at which Satan entring into Judas he bargained with the Priests before the Passover he appointed the time and place of his betraying our Saviour and all things were by them made ready for this wicked deed before the Passover came Observe the method and order of the story in the Evangelists Mat. XXVI 14 15 16 17. Mark XIV 10 11 12. Then went Judas to the Priests and said What will you give me c. And from that time he sought for an opportunity to betray him Now on the first day of unleavened bread came the disciples c. When was it that Judas came to the Priests to treat about betraying Christ surely before the first day of unleavened bread Luke also whom we quoted before proceeds in the very same method From that time say they he sought for an opportunity to betray him If then first he went to and agreed with the Priests when he rose up from the Paschal-Supper as many suppose he did not then seek for an opportunity but had found one The manner of speaking used by the Evangelists most plainly intimates some space of deliberation not sudden execution 5. Let those words of John be considered Chap. XIV 31. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Arise let us go hence and compared with the words Chap. XVIII 1. When Jesus had spoke these words he went away with his Disciples over the brook Cedron Do not these speak of two plainly different departures Did not Christ rise up and depart when he said Arise let us go hence Those words are brought in by the Evanglist without any end or design if we are not to understand by them that Christ immediately changed his place and certainly this change of place is different from that which followed the Paschal Supper Joh. XVIII 1. 6. In that Thirteenth Chapter of John there is not the least mention nor syllable of the Paschal Supper There is indeed plain mention of a Supper before the Feast of the Passover that is before the Festival-day but of a Paschal-Supper there is not one syllable I profess seriously I cannot wonder enough how Interpreters could apply that Chapter to the Paschal-Supper when there is not only no mention at all in it of the Paschal-Supper but the Evangelist hath also pronounced in most express words and than which nothing can be more plain that that Supper of which he speaks was not on the Feast of the Passover but before the Feast 7. If those things which we meet with Joh. XIII of the Sop given to Judas c. were acted in the Paschal-Supper then how I pray was it possible for the Disciples to mistake the meaning of those words What thou dost do quickly In the Paschal-Supper he said He that dips with me in the dish is he and the hand of Judas as some think was at that very moment in the dish To Judas asking Is it I he plainly answered Thou hast said and besides he gave him a Sop for a token as they say who maintain that opinion Then with what reason or with what ignorance after so clear a discovery of the thing and person could the Disciples imagin that Christ said Buy quickly those things that are necessary or give something to the poor 8. And to what poor I pray It was unseasonable truly late at night to go to seek for poor people here and there who were now dispersed all about in several 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 families eating the Passover for the poorest Israelite was obliged to that duty as well as the richest They who supposed that Christ commanded him to give something to the poor could not but understand it of a thing that was presently to be done For it had been ridiculous to conceive that Christ sent him so hastily away from Supper to give something to the poor to morrow But if it be granted that the matter was transacted at Bethany and that two days before the Passover which we assert then it is neither necessary you should suppose that Supper to have been so late at night nor were poor people then and there to be far sought for since so great a multitude of men followed Christ every where II. This Supper was at Bethany two days before the Passover the same we conclude of that Supper Joh. XIII both as to the place and time and that partly by the carrying on of the story to that time partly by observing the sequel of that Supper Six days before the Passover Christ sups at Bethany Joh. XII 1. The next day five days before the Passover he came to Jerusalem riding on an Ass Joh. XII 12 13. and in the Evening he returned to Bethany Mat. XXI 17. Mark XI 11. The day following four days before the Passover he went to Jerusalem Mark XI 11 15 c. and at Evening he returned the same way to Bethany The day after three days before the Passover he goes again to Jerusalem Mark XI 20. In the Evening he went out to the mount of Olives Math. XXIV 1 3. Mark XIII 1 3. Luk. XXI 37. Now where did he sup this night at Bethany For so Matthew and Mark. After two days wa◠the Passover c. Now when Jesus was in Bethany And from this time forward there is no account either of his supping or going to Jerusalem till the evening of the Passover From that supper both the Evangelists begin their story of Judas his contriving to betray our Lord Math. XXVI 14. Mark XIV 10. and very fitly for at that Supper the Devil had entred into him and hurried him forward to accomplish his villany We therefore thus draw up the series of the History out of the holy Writers Before the feast of the Passover Joh. XIII 1. namely two days Math. XXVI 2 6. as Jesus was supping in Bethany a woman anoynts his head and some of the Disciples murmur at it Our Saviour himself becomes both her Advocate and Encomiast Before Supper was done Christ riseth from the table and washeth his Disciples feet and sitting down again acquaints them with the betrayer John asking privately about him he privately also gives him a token by a Sop and gives a Sop to Judas With this the Devil entred into him and now he grows ripe for his wickedness The Devil had before put it into his
keep Cocks at Jerusalem because of the holy things for Israelites have eaten there peace-offerings and thank-offerings but now it is the custom of dunghil Cocks to turn over dunghils where perhaps they might find creeping things that might pollute those holy things that are to be eaten By what means and under what pretence the Canon was dispensed with we do not dispute 'T is certain there were Cocks at Jerusalem as well as at other places And memorable is the story of a Cock which was stoned by the sentence of the Council for having killed a little child i i i i i i Jerus Erubbin fol. 26. 1. VERS XXXVI 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Gethsemane THE place of the Olive-presses at the foot of Mount Olivet In John it is a garden beyond Kidron k k k k k k Chap. XVIII 1. * * * * * * Bava Kama in the place above They do not make Gardens or Paradices in Jerusalem because of the stink 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Gloss Because of the stink that riseth from the weeds which are thrown out besides it is the custom to dung Gardens and thence comes a stink Upon this account there were no Gardens in the City some few Gardens of Roses excepted which had been so from the days of the Prophets l l l l l l Avoth R. Nathan fol. 9. 1. but all were without the walls especially at the foot of Olivet VERS XLIX 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Kissed him IT was not unusual for a Master to kiss his Disciple but for a Disciple to kiss his Master was more rare Whether therefore Judas did this under pretence of respect or out of open contempt and dirision let it be enquired VERS LX. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Many false witnesses came ENquire Whether these are to be called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Of which the Talmudists speak at large especially in the Treatise Maccoth m m m m m m Chap. 1. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 are commonly rendred False witnesses and deservedly and yet Maimonides reckons up these as necessary in that City where the Council of twenty three is placed Why saith he is such a Council not set up but in a City where there are an hundred and twenty men Namely that there may be three and twenty for the Council and three ranks consisting of sixty nine men and ten men to attend upon the affairs of the Synagogue two Scribes two Bishops two to be judged two witnesses 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. The reason of the thing is a little obscure the characters of the men you may take in these examples The witnesses say We testifie that N. killed N. They say to them How do you depose this when the killer or he that was killed was with us in such a place on that day These as yet are not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 But if they should say How can you testifie this when you were with us on that day n n n n n n Maccoth Chap. 1. hal 6. c. On which Mishnah thus Maimonides The witnesses depose that Reuben killed Simeon and afterwards Kohath and Hushim come 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and disprove their testimony there come afterwards other witnesses and depose the same with the former namely that Reuben killed Simeon and Kohath and Hushim disprove their testimony also if a second third and fourth nay if a thousand pair come and depose the same thing while those two so disprove them they must all dye by the testimony of these two c. There was the like Testimony in other things thus in the first Halacah of the Chapter quoted 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 How are witnesses made 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 We testifie concerning N. that he is the Son of a divorced Woman c. They do not say Let this witness if he prove false be made the Son of a divorced Woman instead of the other but he is beaten with forty stripes The words are obscure enough but their meaning is this Since a false witness was by the Law to suffer the same things which by his perjury he had designed to bring upon another it is here enquired in what cases a witness is so far to be accounted false as to undergo such a retaliation And it is answered Not in all and this reason is alledged If any one by false witness should endeavour to deprive another of his legitimacy and by consequence of the privilidges of being legitimate by saying that he is the Son of a divorced Woman though he were indeed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a false witness yet he must not be punished in the like kind to be made as the Son of a divorced Woman but he must be whipped But in capital cases the custom was that whosoever endeavoured to procure death to another person by false witness must himself be put to death VERS LXV 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Then the High Priest rent his clothes o o o o o o Maimon in Avod Zarah cap. 2. WHEN witnesses speak out the blasphemy which they heard then all hearing the blasphemy are bound to rend their clothes See more there p p p p p p Sanâ—edr cap. 7. hal 10. They that judge a blasphemer first ask the witness and bid him speak out plainly what he hath heard and when he speaks it the Judges standing on their feet rend their garments and do not sow them up again c. See there the Bab. Gemara discoursing at large why they stand upon their feet why they rend their garments and why they may not be sowed up again CHAP. XXVII VERS I. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. When the morning was come c. LET us trace a little the proceedings of this Council I. They spend the night in judging on a capital cause which is expresly forbid by their own Canon 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 They handle capital causes in the day time and finish them by day q q q q q q Sanâ—edr cap. 4. hal 1. Mony matters indeed that were begun by day might be ended in the night which is asserted in that place but capital causes were only to be handled by day But here in sitting upon the life and death of our Saviour there is need of night and darkness This judgment is begun in the night and carried on all the night through in a manner II. This night was the evening of a Feast-day namely of the first day of the Paschalweek at what time they were also forbid to sit in judgment r r r r r r Moed Katon chap. 5. hal 2. They do not judg on a Feast-day How the Lawyers are divided on this point I will not trouble you now with recounting This very Canon is sufficient ground for scruple which we leave to them to clear who through rankor and hatred towards Christ seem to slight and trample under
Preparation of Pentecost and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The preparation of the Feast of Tabernacles That is the Day and manner of preparing food for the following mirth of the Feast In the same sense was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Preparation of the Sabbath namely The preparation of food and things necessary to the Sabbath Of which we shall speak at Vers. 42. Having thus dispatched these things let us now come to the hour it self It was the Preparation of the Passover saith John and about the sixth hour when Pilate delivered Christ to be crucified And it was the third hour saith Mark and they crucified him It is disputed by the Gemarists l l l l l l In Bab. Pesach fol. 11. 2. how far the evidences of two men may agree and consent whereof one saith This I saw done in that hour and the other saith I saw it done another hour One saith the second hour another the third 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Their Testimony consist together One saith The third hour another the fifth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Their Testimony is vain as R. Meir saith But saith R. Judah Their Testimony consists together But if one saith The fifth hour another the seventh hour their testimony is vain because in the fifth hour the Sun is in the East part of Heaven in the seventh in the West part They dispute largely concerning this matter in the place alledged and concerning evidences differing in words nevertheless as to the thing it self they conclude that both may be true because witnesses may be deceived in the computation of hours Which to conclude concerning the Evangelists were impious and blasphemous But there is one supposes the Copiers were deceived in their transcription and would have the computation of John corrected into 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And it was about the third hour Too bodly and indeed without any reason For it is neither credible nor possible indeed that those things which went before our Saviours crucifixion should be done 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to use the words of the Talmudists m m m m m m Sanhedr fol. 105. 2. in the three first hours of the day The Harmony therefore of the Evangelists is to be fetched elsewhere I. Let us repeat that out of Maimonides The great Sanhedrin sat from the morning dayly Sacrifice until the afternoon daily Sacrifice But now when the morning dayly Sacrifice was at the third hour the Sanhedrin sat not before that hour Take heed therefore Thou that wouldst have the words of John And it was about the sixth hour to be changed into And it was about the third hour lest thou becomest guilty of a great Solecism For Pilate could not deliver Christ to be crucified about the third hour when the Sanhedrin sat not before the Third hour and Christ was not yet delivered to Pilate But you will say The words of Mark do obscure these things much more For if the Sanhedrin that delivered up Christ met not together before the third hour one can no way say that they crucified him the third hour We do here propound two things for the explanation of this matter Let the first be taken from the day it self and from the hour it self That day was the Preparation of the Passover a day of high solemnity and when it behoved the Priests and the other Fathers of the Sanhedrin to be present at the third hour in the Temple and to offer their Chagigahs that were preparative to the whole seven days festivity but they employed themselves in another thing namely this You may observe that he saith not It was the third hour when but It was the third hour And they crucified him That is When the third hour now was and was passed yet they omitted not to prosecute his crucifixion when indeed according to the manner of the Feast and the obligation of Religion they ought to have been employed otherwise I indeed should rather sit down satisfied with this interpretation than to accuse the holy Text as depraved or to deprave it more with my amendment But Secondly There is another sense also not to be despised if our judgment is any thing which we fetch from a custom usual in the Sanhedrin but from which they now swerved n n n n n n Sanhedr fol. 46. 2. They are treating concerning a guilty person condemned to hanging with whom they deal in this process 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 They tarry until Sunset approach 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And then they finish his judgment and put him to death Note that They finish not his judgment until Sunset draw near If you ask the reason a more general one may be given which respected all persons condemned to dye and a more special one which respected him which was to be hanged I. There was that which is called by the Talmudists 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The affliction of judgment by which Phrase they understand not judgment that is not just but when he that is condemned after judgment past is not presently put to death 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 o o o o o o Sanhedr fol. 35. 1. If you finish his judgment on the Sabbath mark that and put him to death on the first day of the week 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 You afflict his judgment Where the Gloss is As long as his judgment is not finished it is not the affliction of judgment because he expects every hour to be absolved But when judgment is ended he expects death c. Therefore they delayed but little between the finishing of judgment and execution II. As to those that were to be hanged 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 They delayed the finishing his judgment and they hanged him not in the morning lest they might grow slack about his burial and might fall into forgetfulness and might sin against the Law Deut. XXI 23. but near Sunset that they might presently bury him So the Gloss. They put him to death not sooner for this reason they finished not his judgment sooner for the reason above said And now let us resume the words of Mark And it was the third hour and they crucified him The Sanhedrin used not to finish the judgment of hanging until they were now ready to rise up and depart from the Council and Bench after the Mincha the day now inclining toward Sunset but these men finished the Judgment of Jesus and hastened him to the Cross when they first came into the Court at the third hour at the time of the dayly sacrifice which was very unusual and different from the custom VERS XXXIV 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Eloi Eloi IN Matthew it is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Eli Eli in the very same Syllables of Psal. XXII 1. Mark according to the present dialect namely the Chaldee useth the pronunciation of the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or at least according to the pronunciation of the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Eloi
cap. 4. hal 2. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 For every Course there was a Stationary Assembly of Priests Levites and Israelites at Jerusalem When the time came wherein the Course must go up the Priests and the Levites went up to Jerusalem but the Israelites that were within that Course all met within their own Cities and read the History of the Creation Gen. I. The Stationary men fasting four days in that week viz. from the second to the fifth Glosse There was a Stationary Assembly 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for every Course stated and placed in Jerusalem who should assist in the Sacrifices of their brethren besides these that were stated in Jerusalem there was a Stationary Assembly in every City All Israel was divided into Twenty four Stations according to the Twenty four Courses There was the station of Priests Levites and Israelites at Jerusalem the Priests of the Course went up to Jerusalem to their Service the Levites to their Singing and of all the Stations there were some appointed and settled at Jerusalem that were to assist at the Sacrifices of their Brethren The rest assembled in their own Cities poured out Prayers that the Sacrifices of their Brethren might be accepted Fasting and bringing forth the Book of the Law on their Fast-day c. So the glosse hath it The reason of this Institution as to Stationary Men is given us in the Mishnah 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 For how could every mans offering be made if he himself were not present Now whereas the daily sacrifice and some other offerings were made for all Israel and it was not possible that all Israel should be present these Stationaries were instituted who in the stead of all Israel should put their hands upon the daily Sacrifice and should be present at the other Offerings that were offered for all Israel And while these were performing this at Jerusalem there were other Stationaries in every Course who by Prayers and Fasting in their own Cities helpt forward as much as they could the Services of their Brethren that were at Jerusalem k k k k k k Sipâ—ra sol 3. 2. The Children of Israel lay on their hands but the Gentiles do not The Men of Israel lay on their hands but the Women do not R. Jose saith Abba Eliezer said to me we had once a Calf for a Peace-offering and bringing it into the Court of the Women the Women put their hands upon it not that this belonged to the Women so to do 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but that the Womens spirits might be appeased A remarkable thing The Priests throughout all the Courses grew into a prodigious number if that be true in Jerusalem Taanith l l l l l l Fol. 69. 1. R. Zeora in the name of Rabh Honnah said that the least of all the Courses brought forth Eighty five thousand branches of Priests A thing not to be credited 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And his Wife was of the Daughters of Aaron In the Talmudists 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Priestess viz. one born of the lineage of Priests It was lawful for a Priest to marry a Levitess or indeed a Daughter of Israel m m m m m m Kiddushin cap. 4. hal 1. But it was most commendable of all to marry one of the Priests line Hence that Story in Taanith ubi supr Fouscore pair of Brethren-Priests took to Wife fourscore pair of Sister-Pristesses in Gophne all in one night There was hardly any thing among the Jews with greater care and caution lookt after than the marrying of their Priests viz. that the Wives they took should not by any means stain and defile their Priestly blood and that all things which were fit for their eating should be hallowed Hence that usual phrase for an excellent Woman 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 She deserves to marry with a Priest n n n n n n Joseph cont Appion lib. 1. pag. mihi 918. Josephus speaks much of this care 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That the whole priestly Generation might be preserved pure and unblended 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Elizabeth The Seventy give this name to Aarons Wife Exod. VI. 23. VERS VI. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. In all the Commandments and Ordinances c. SO Numb XXXVI 13. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 These are the Commandments and judgments It would perhaps seem a little too fine and curious to restrain the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to the Decalogue or Ten Commandments and the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to the Ceremonial and judicial Laws though this does not wholly want foundation It is certain the precepts delivered after the Decalogue from Exod. XXI to Chap. XXIV are called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 judgments or ordinances Exod. XXI 1. XXIV 3. The Vulgar can hardly give any good account why he should render 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by justifications much less the followers of that Translation why they should from thence fetch an Argument for justification upon observation of the Commands when the commands and institutions of men are by foreign Authors called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 nay the corrupt customs that had been wickedly taken up have the same word 1 Sam. II. 13. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. The Priests custom with the people was c. 2 Kings XVII 8. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. And walked in the Statutes of the Heathen The word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is frequently rendered by those Interpreters from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which to wave all other instances may abundantly appear from Psalm CXIX and the very things which the Jews speak of the Hebrew word obtain also in the Greek a a a a a a R. Solomon in Numb XIX Perhaps Satan and the Gentiles will question with Israel what this or that Command means and what should be the reason of it the answer that ought to be made in this case is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 It is ordained it is a Law given by God and it becomes not thee to cavil b b b b b b Joma fol. 67. 2. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ye shall observe my statutes That is even those which Satan and the Nations of the World do cavil at Such are those Laws about eating Swines flesh heterogeneous cloathing the nearest Kinsman's putting off the Shoe the cleansing of the Leper and the scape Goat If perhaps it should be said that these precepts are vain and needless the Text saith I am the Lord. I the Lord have ordained these things and it doth not become thee to dispute them They are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 just and equal deriving their equity from the authority of him that ordained them VERS VIII 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 In the order of his course a a a a a a Hieros Taanith ubi supr THE heads of the Courses stood forth and divided
fol. 30. 1. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The ancients were call'd 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 numberers because they number'd all the letters of the Law for they said 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Vau in 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Levit. XI 42. is the middle letter in the whole Book of the Law The Gloss gives another reason out of the Jerus Talm. namely because they number'd all the points and contents of the Law as the forty principal servile works save one c. Should we indeed grant that the first original of the word had such narrow bounds as this yet does not this hinder but that it afterward enlarg'd it self so far as to denote any person learned in the Law and every Doctor of it nay that it extended it self even to 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Schoolmasters that taught children if not to the very 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Libellarii those whose business it was to write out bills of divorce and forms of Contracts c. of which two there is mention made amongst the ten sorts whereof if none should happen to be in a City it was not fit for any disciple of the wise to abide in it b b b b b b Sanhedr fol. 17. 2. II. That the fathers of the Sanhedrin were more emphatically call'd the Scribes it is so well known that it needs no confirmation That passage in the Evangelist sufficiently shews it c c c c c c Mat. XXIII 1. The Scribes and Pharisees sit in Moses chair that is on the Legislative bench or in the Sanhedrin where also the Sadducees that were of that Council are called Scribes And the Scribes are distinguisht there from the Pharisees not that they were not Scribes but because all the Scribes there were not Pharisees III. There was a certain degree of Doctors or Scribes that were in the Sanhedrin but were not members of it these are commonly called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 those who gave judgment in the presence of the wise men 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 fit for the office of Legislators but not yet admitted Such were Simeon ben Azzai and Simeon ben Zumah d d d d d d Horaioth fol. 2. 2. Such also was Simeon the Temanite of whom we have made mention elsewhere out of Sanhedr fol. 22. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he judg'd in the presence of the Sanhedrin sitting upon the ground He did not sit on the bench with the fathers as not being one of their number but on the seats below nearer the ground him the father 's consulted in difficult matters A shadow of which we have in England of the Judges men learned in the Laws who have their seats in our house of Lords He that was particularly call'd the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the wise man whether he was of the number of the fathers or only of these kind of Judges I shall not at present dispute but leave the Reader to judg from this story e e e e e e Horaioth fol. 13. 2. Rabban Simeon ben Gamaliel was the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the President of the Sanhedrin R. Meir was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Chacam or the wise man and R. Nathan 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the vice governour Now when Rabban Simeon had decreed something that disparag'd R. Meir and R. Nathan Saith R. Meir to R. Nathan 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I am the Chacam or the wise man And thou art the vice-president Let us remove Rabban Simeon from the Presidency then thou wilt be the President and I the Vice-president There is nothing more common and yet nothing more difficult than that saying the School of Hillel saith so and so and the School of Schammai so 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but the wise men say otherwise It is very obscure who these wise men should be If we should say the Sanhedrin it is plain that one part of it consisted of the Shammaeans and another part of the Hillelites If so then it should seem that these wise men are those Judges of whom we have spoken unless you will assign a third part to the Sadducees to whom you will hardly attribute the determination of the thing and much less the Emphatical title of the wise men But this we leave undecided III. Let us a little enquire out of the Sanhedrin we shall find variety of Scribes and Doctors of the Law according to the variety of the Law it self and the variety of teaching it Hence those various Treatises amongst the Rabbins The Micra Mishneh Midras Talmud Agadah c. 1. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Micra is the Text of the Bible it self its reading and literal Explication 2. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Mishneh the doctrine of Traditions and their Explication 3. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Midrash the mystick and allegorical doctrine and exposition of the Scriptures a a a a a a Act. XV. 21. For Moses of old time hath in every city them that preach him being read in the Synagogues every Sabbath-day Now these were the ways and methods of preaching him I. As to the written Law for every one knows they had a twofold Law written and oral as they call'd it As to the written Law therefore they had a twofold way of declaring it viz. explaining and applying it according to the literal sense of it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for edification exhortation and comfort as the Apostle hath it b b b b b b 1 Cor. XIV 3. Or else by drawing Allegories mysteries and far fetcht notions out of it As to the former way the rulers of the Synagogue seem to have respect to it in what they said to Paul and Barnabas c c c c c c Act. XIII 15. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 If ye have any word of exhortation for the people say on As to the latter the instances are endless in the Jewish writings every where so far that they have even melted down the whole volume of the Scriptures into tradition and allegory It is not easily determin'd whether these Preachers were so of a different order that the one should wholly addict himself to the plain and literal exposition and application of the Scriptures the other only to the mystical and more abstruse way of teaching there is no question but both these did frequently meet both in one Preacher and that in one and the same Sermon and indeed I cannot tell but that the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Agadah may sometimes denote both these ways of expounding and interpreting the Law d d d d d d Beresh rab fol. 90. 3. When a certain person being interrogated about certain traditions could give no answer the standers by said 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Perhaps he is not skill'd in the traditional doctrine but he may be able to expound And so they propound to him Dan. X. 21. to explain To which that also agrees well enough a a a a a a Gloss.
singular is the Pastor of the Synagogue and perhaps if these things were observ'd it might give some light into that place of the Apostle II. As 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the disciple and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the singular are sometimes confounded sometimes distinguisht so also is the Scribe and the Pharisee They are sometimes confounded for many of the Pharisees were Scribes and they are sometimes distinguished for many of them were of the common people and not Scribes Perhaps it may not be improperly said that there were Pharisees that were of the Clergy and Pharisees that were of the laity He whom we have now before us was a Scribe but not a Pharisee but it is not easie to give the reason why he is term'd a Lawyer and not a Scribe Here is some place for conjecture but not for demonstration As to conjecture therefore let us make a little assay in this matter I. I conceive that the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Lawyer and Teacher of the Law may be oppos'd to the Sadducees to whom the Pharisee is diametrically opposite for they were contrary to them in their practise of the Traditional rites as much as they could and these again contrary to them in Traditional doctrines abundantly The Sadducees had indeed their Scribes or their teachers as well as any other party there is frequent mention of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Scribes of the Sadducees And from this antithesis probably is Rabban Gamaliel term'd 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Doctor of Law g g g g g g Act. V. 34. For there was then an assembly of the Sect of the Sadducees ver 17. Now when Gamaliel who was of the other Sect made his speech amongst them it is easie to conceive why he is there term'd 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Doctor of Law For the same reason we may suppose the person here before us might be call'd 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 one of the Lawyers and not a Scribe because there were Scribes even amongst the Sadducees II. I conceive therefore that the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 were the Traditionary Doctors of the Law As to Gamaliel a Doctor of the Law the thing is without dispute and if there were any difference between the Lawyers and Doctors of the Law yet as to this matter I suppose there was none Let us consider this following passage h h h h h h Hieros Schab fol. 15. 3. It is a Tradition R. Simeon ben Jochai saith he that is conversant 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the Textual exposition of the Law hath a measure which is not a measure He that is conversant in Mishneh hath a measure from whence they receive a reward but if he be conversant in the Talmud there is not a greater measure than this Always betake your self to the Mishneh rather than the Talmud But R. Jose ben R. Bon saith This which thou saist obtain'd before the Rabbi had mixed with it manifold traditions but from the time that he mixed with it manifold traditions always have recourse to the Talmud rather than to the Mishneh Now I pray who is he that according to this tradition merits most the title of a Doctor of Law 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he that is conversant 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the exposition and interpretation of the written Law and the context of it Alas he doth but little and for all the oyl and labour he hath spent hath only a measure which is not a measure But he that is conversant in the Mishneh and Talmud in the Traditional doctrine or exposition of the Traditional Law he bears away the bell he hath some reward for his pains and is dignify'd with the title of Doctor III. If there were any distinction betwixt 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which I hardly believe we may suppose it might be this either that the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 had his School and his disciples and the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 had none or that the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 was conversant in the Mishneh or the plain and literal exposition of Traditions and the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the Talmud or a more profound and scholastick way of teaching However be there this distinction betwixt them or some other or indeed none at all yet I presume they were both Doctors of Traditions and expounders of that which they call'd the Oral Law in opposition to the Scribes whether amongst the Jews or the Sadducees who employ'd themselves in the Textual exposition of the Law VERS XLVI 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And ye your selves touch not the burdens with one of your fingers THAT the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as we have already said were the Doctors of Traditions is a little confirm'd by this that what our Saviour reproacheth them for were meerly Traditionals this particularly that they laded men with such yokes of Traditions and yet they themselves would not touch or move them with one of their fingers This exposition indeed vulgarly obtains you lay grievous burdens upon others which in the mean time you indulg your selves in and will not undergo them by any means This interpretation I cannot but admit but yet must inquire whether there be not something more included in it For whereas he that would prescribe light things to himself and burdensome to others was commonly accounted and call'd 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a wicked cunning fellow i i i i i i Sotah cap ◠hal 4. And whereas there is frequent mention of this or that Rabbin 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 who would lay this or that burden upon himself which he would acquit others of it may be a question whether this exposition so commonly receiv'd doth indeed speak out the whole sense and meaning of these words I apprehend therefore our Saviour might not only rebuke the remisness and indulgence they gave themselves but further their strictness and tenaciousness about their own decrees they made light of the commandments of God at their own pleasure but would never diminish the least tittle of their own That they might remove or take away any part of the Divine Law they employ both hands but as to their own Constitutions they will not move one finger VERS XLIX 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Therefore also said the wisdom of God THIS form of speaking agreeth well enough with that so much in use 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the rule of judgment saith amongst numberless instances take that of the Targumist k k k k k k Turen 2. c. Is it fitting that the daughters of Israel should eat the fruit of their own womb 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the rule of judgment retributive justice answer'd and said 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 was it also sitting to kill a Priest and a Prophet in the Sanctuary of the Lord as
ye kill'd Zacharias c. VERS LI. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Unto the blood of Zacharias IF our Saviour had not in the Evangelist St. Matthew added the Son of Barachias no one could have doubted that it refer'd to any other than Zacharias the Son of Jehojadah whose slaughter is recorded II Chron. XXIV It is certain the Jews own no other Zacharias slain in the Temple but himself and what they say of his slaughter I have already taken notice upon that place in St. Matthew out of both the Talmuds we meet with the same things in Midras Echah l l l l l l Fol. 79. 2 3. and Midras Coheleth m m m m m m Fol. 93. 1. out of which last give me leave briefly to transcribe these passages The blood of Zachary boil'd up CCLII years from the days of Iâ—ash to the days of Zedekiah What did they do they swept into it all the dust of the Court and made an heap yet it ceased not but still boil'd and bubled up The Holy Blessed God said to the blood 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 behold the time is come that thou exact thy 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that was let the Lord behold and require it at your hands when Nebuzaradan came and enquir'd what this matter was they answer'd that it was the blood of heifers and rams and lambs which they had sacrific'd Afterward when he came to understand what the matter was he slew eighty thousand Priests and yet the blood would not stanch but broke out and flow'd as far as the Tomb of Zachary he brought together therefore the Sanhedrin both the great and less and slew them over that blood and yet it did not cease c. I hardly indeed think that those that relate this matter did really believe it to have been actually so but only would by such flowers of Rhetorick and strained Hyperboles paint out the horrible guilt of the murder of Zacharias which by how much the more horrible it was by so much the more did it agree with the guilt of the murder of our Blessed Lord. And however a great part of it in these relations of theirs may be meer flourish yet by the whole framing of the thing it must needs be observed that the slaughter of this Zacharias was so famous and rooted in the minds of that people generally that when our Saviour speaks of one Zacharias slain between the Temple and the Altar it cannot be imagin'd that they could understand him pointing at any other than this very man As for his father being here call'd Barachias and not Jehojadah we have spoken to that matter elswhere n n n n n n Vid. Notes at Mat. XXIII If any one hesitate about the changing of the name let him say by what name he finds Jehojadah recited in that Catalogue of Priests set down in 1 Chron. VI. It must be either some other name or else we must suppose him wholly lest out of that number If by another name you will say supposing he be also call'd Barachias he was then a man of three names This indeed is no unusual thing with that Nation for some to have more names than one nay if you will believe the Jewish Doctors even Moses himself had no less than ten o o o o o o Vajicra rabb fol. 165. 3. VERS LII 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ye have taken away the key of knowledg SHould we render it ye have taken the key of knowledg that is to your selves or ye have taken it away there is not much difference They took the key of knowledg to themselves when they arrogated to themselves only all profoundness of wisdom and learning hereby indeed taking it away from the people because they taught them nothing but trifling and idle stuff The word for key being in their language 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 brings to mind the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which was so very much in use amongst them for one that was teaching Instances of this were endless there are enough of it in that long preface prefixt to that Midras Thren that hath for its title 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the openings of the wise where as indeed almost every where else it is so frequently said 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 R. such an one open'd for I cannot tell how better to render it I know indeed that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 oftentimes signifies he began to which is oppos'd 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he ended But here it is used when any Rabbin produceth any Text of Scripture and either glosseth or discourseth upon it by way of Exposition allusion or allegory While he open'd to us the Scriptures p p p p p p Luk. XXIV 32. There is no one that observes the places but will easily suppose there is more signified by the expression than meer opening his mouth CHAP. XII VERS I. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 When there were gather'd together an innumerable multitude of people THERE is no one would understand this in the very letter of it as if the number of the people here present were at least twenty thousand but a very great number So Act. XXI 20. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 How many myriads of Jews which believe This probably denotes the mighty success of the seventy disciples preaching the Gospel who had so clearly and effectually taught concerning Christ and told them of the places that he had determin'd to come to that the people had flockt together in those vast numbers ready upon all occasions to meet him when they heard the Messias was making his approaches to this or that Town VERS III. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That which ye have spoken in the ear I Have elsewhere a a a a a a Notes upon Mat. X. 27. spoken of a Doctor whispering in the ear 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of his Interpreter the reason of this usage is given us b b b b b b Fol. 14. 1. in Chagigah 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 because the Law is deliver'd silently and the reason of this is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 it is delivered silently because of Satan c c c c c c Sanhedr fol. 26. 2. However these words are not to be understood of any such kind of whispering into the ears of the Interpreter but concerning any matter that may have been spoken in never so much secresie and design not to have been known again The Doctor whisper'd into the ear of the Interpreter to that end that his disciples might publish what he had said But here is meant whatever any had the greatest purpose to conceal yet God will reveal it not much unlike that passage in Eccles. X. 20. Our Saviour intimates the folly as well as the wickedness of dissimulation because in time the visor shall be taken off and the most dissembled hypocrisie expos'd to naked view
to me Or rather according to the letter deserve something by me i. e. acquire something of merit to your self by the alms you give me 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 O you whoever have a tender heart do your self good by me 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Look back and see what I have been look upon me now and see what I am g g g g g g Vajicra rabb fol. 204. 3. VERS XIII 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 They brought him to the Pharisees THE Pharisees in this Evangelist are generally to be understood the Sanhedrin nor indeed do we find in St. John any mention of the Sadducees at all Consult Joh. I. 24. IV. 1. VIII 3. XI 46 c. h h h h h h Joseph Antiq. lib. 13. cap. 18. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. The Pharisees have such a sway amongst the people that if they should say any thing against the King or High Priest they would be believ'd And a little after The Pharisees have given out many rules to the people from the Traditions of the fathers which are not written in the Laws of Moses and for that very reason the Sadducees rejected them saying they ought to account nothing as law or obligatory but what is deliver'd by Moses and what hath no other authority but tradition only ought not to be observ'd And hence have arisen questions and mighty controversies 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Sadducees drawing after them the richer sort only whiles the multitude follow'd and adhered to the Pharisees Hence we may apprehend the reason why the whole Sanhedrin is sometime comprehended under the name of the Pharisees because the common people and the main body of that Nation were wholly at the management of the Pharisees govern'd by their decrees and laws But there was once a Sanhedrin that consisted chiefly of the Sect of the Sadducees and what was done then i i i i i i Sanhedr fol. 52. 1. R. Eliezer ben Zadok saith there was a time when they burnt a Priests daughter for whoredom compassing her about with bundles of young twiggs but the answer is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 there was not a Sanhedrin at that time that was well skill'd Rabh Joseph saith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that Sanhedrin was made up of Sadducees It is worth our taking notice of this passage VERS XXII 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 He should be put out of the Synagogue SO Chap. XVI 2. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 granting that this is spoken of Excommunication the question may be whether it is to be understood of the ordinary Excommunication that is from this or that Synagogue or the extraordinary that is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a cutting off from the whole Congregation of Israel k k k k k k Piske haresh in Moed-Katon cap. 3. art 23. Whoever is excommunicated by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the president of the Sanhedrin is cut off from the whole Congregation of Israel and if so then much more if it be by the vote of the whole Sanhedrin And it seems by that speech 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 They cast him out v. 34. that word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 out was added for such a signification But suppose we it might be understood of the ordinary Excommunication among all the four and twenty reasons of Excommunication which should it be for which this was decreed viz. that if any man did confess that Jesus was the Christ he should be put out of the Synagogue The Elders of the Sanhedrin perhaps would answer what upon other occaons is frequently said and done by them It is decreed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for the necessity of the time VERS XXVIII 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 We are Moses Disciples THE man as it should seem had in gentle and perswasive terms askt them Will ye also be his Disciples as if he heartily wisht they would But they as ruggedly Be you so We are Moses his Disciples l l l l l l Joma fol. 4. 1. They deliver'd two Disciples of the wise men into the hands of the chief Priest that they might instruct him about the rites and usages of the day of expiation 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 they were of the Disciples of Moses And who are these Disciples of Moses it follows 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the very phrase excludes the Sadducees The Reader may observe by the way these Disciples of Moses his Disciples with what reverence they treat him m m m m m m Vajicra rab fol. 179. 1. Moses was angry about three things and the tradition was accordingly hid from him I. About the Sabbath Exod. XVI 20. while he was angry he forgot to recite to them the traditions about the Sabbath II. About the vessels of metal Numb XXXI 14. whiles he was angry he forgot to recite to them the traditions about the vessels of metal III. About the mourner whiles he was wroth the tradition was hid from him which forbad the mourner to eat of the Holy things Did Moses think it unlawful for the mourner to have eaten of the Holy things when he spake to Eleazar and Ithamar while they were in the very act of bewailing the death of their two Brethren Wherefore have ye not eaten the sin-offering in the Holy place Yes but in his passion he forgot both the tradition and himself too Excellent Disciples indeed that can thus chastise your great Master at pleasure as a man very hasty apt to be angry and of a slender memory let him hence forward learn from you to temperate his passions and quicken his memory You have a memory indeed that have recover'd the tradition which he himself had forgot VERS XXXIV 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And they cast him out I Shall note something of this kind of phrase at Chap. XVI 2. Thus doth this man commence the first Confessor in the Christan Church as John the Baptist had been the first Martyr in it He suffer'd Excommunication and that from the whole Congregation of Israel for the name of Christ. It seems something strange that they did not Excommunicate Jesus himself but they were contriving more bloody things against him CHAP. X. AMONGST all the places in the Old Testament which mention this great shepherd there is no one doth so exactly describe him and his Pastoral work as the XIth Chap. of the Prophet Zachary We will fetch a few things from thence that may serve to explain the passage now in hand I. He describes this great Shepherd manifesting himself and applying himself to his great Pastoral office when the Nation was now upon the brink of destruction the Prophet had foretold their ruin and brings in this Shepherd undertaking the care of his sheep lest they should perish too As to the first ver Open thy doors O Lebanon take the Jews own comment upon it who yet do by all the skill they can endeavour to take off the whole Prophesie from those proper
the brook of filth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Where there was a Garden The Grandees of the Nation had their Gardens and places of pleasure about the City yea even in the mount of Olives for there were none within the City its self b b b b b b Bava kamah cap. 7. ad fin The blood that was over and above after the sprinkling of the inward Altar was pour'd out toward the foundation on the west of the outward Altar And the blood that was over and above at the outward Altar was pour'd out at the foot of it on the South-side and both the one and the other meeting together ran down through a conveyance under ground into the brook Kidron 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And was sold to the Gardeners to dung their Gardens with which having bought they us'd for that purpose c c c c c c Joma fol. 58. 2. For the blood having been once dedicated to sacred use might not be put to any common use without trespass so that the Gardeners paid so much money for it as would purchase a trespass-offering VERS III. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 With Lanthorns and Torches THE Talm. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 now what 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 should signifie we may make a guess out of Succah d d d d d d Fol. 51. 2. They danced that is in the Feast of Tabernacles holding in their hand 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 burning Torches The Gloss is They threw up their Torches into the air and caught them again in their hands and some there were so great artists in this exercise they could do it some with four others with eight Torches at once throwing up one and catching another VERS X. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Malcus A Name very much in use amongst the Jews Malluch Nehem. X. 4 27. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 e e e e e e Joseph Antiq. llb. 13. 9. Malchus the Arabian This was also the name of that implacable enemy to Christianity Porphyrius and of his father before him So Luke Holsteine in the life of Porphyrius where he reckons up more of that name Christ had stroke those to the ground that came to apprehend him by the power of his Word that he might thereby provide for the flight of his Disciples and shew his own Divine power they getting up again accost him Judas kisseth him they lay hands upon him and then Peter draws his sword c. VERS XIII 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 To Annas first FOR Annas was Father-in-law to Caiaphas as also 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Sagan of the Priests Luk. III. 2. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Targ. in 2 King XXIII 4. Now Sagan was the same with 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Prefect or Ruler which we have so frequent mention of amongst the Rabbins f f f f f f Joma cap. 3. hal 1. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Ruler saith unto them Gloss. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Ruler is the Sagan g g g g g g Sanhedr fol. 19. 1. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Sagan is the same with Ruler There is frequent mention amongst the Talmudists of R. Ananias 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Sagan of the Priests h h h h h h Joma fol. 8. 1. He was destroy'd with Rabban Simeon and Ismael at the siege of Jerusalem i i i i i i Shekalim cap. 6. hal 1 c. But I am apt to think he was that sharp and unjust Judg that St. Paul had to do with Act. XXIII rather than our Annas in this place Why they should carry our Saviour when they had taken him before Annas the Sagan i Tsemach David Juchasin fol. 57. sooner than to Caiaphas the High Priest the Evangelist gives us one reason viz. because he was father-in-Father-in-law to Caiaphas under which another reason may be deduced viz. that he was the older man of greater experience and skill in the Law for there were sometimes some High Priests that were very unlearned fellows as may be gather'd from that supposition in Joma k k k k k k Cap. 1. hal 6. If the High Priest be a wise man he expounds if not they expound to him If he be accustom'd to reading he reads himself if not they read before him But for the Sagan of the Priests it was very necessary he should be a man of learning because his charge was about the things and service of the Temple and was bound to be always assistant and present there when the High Priest was seldom there or convers'd in those affairs Juchasin and Aruch 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 No one could by right be promoted to the High Priesthood unless he had first been Sagan A good cautelous provision indeed that so in the time of their Saganship they might gain experience in the Laws and Rituals and might be the better fitted for the High Priests Chair But when it came to that pass that persons were made High Priests for their money and not for their deserts it might easily happen that very unlearned wretches might sometimes possess that seat And perhaps Caiphas himself was of this stamp It seems therefore that they led Jesus to Annas first that Caiaphas might be directed by his counsel himself being but little versed in things of this nature might proceed in this affair by the steerage of his Father-in-law And let this High Priest pardon me if I ascribe that sentence of his It is expedient that one man should die for the people and not that the whole Nation perish not to his prudence and gravity but to his rashness and cruelty although the Holy Spirit directed it to its proper end which the High Priest himself did not dream of There might be another reason why they led Christ before Annas first but that I shall speak of anon 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Who was the High Priest that same year If the Gloss I had upon these very same words Chap. XI 51. will not so well fit here as they did there we may add this also which will suit well enough in both places that is that there was so great a vicissitude and change in the High Priesthood there being a new High Priest almost every year that it was not unnecessary to set down this particular circumstance Caiaphas was High Priest for that year l l l l l l Joma fol. 9. 1. In the second Temple which stood but 420 years there were more than three hundred High Priests within that time Of these 420 years deduct those forty wherein Simeon the Just ministred and those eighty wherein Johanan sat and those ten wherein Ismael ben Phabi and as it is said those eleven wherein Eleazar ben Harsom govern'd and then reckon and you will find that hardly any other High Priest sat out his whole year But this number of High Priests is very much lessen'd in Vajicra rabba
of the phrase 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the morrow of the Sabbath there hath arose a controversie betwixt the Scribes and Baithusians whether by the Sabbath ought to be understood the weekly Sabbath or as the Scribes commonly call'd it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Sabbath of the Creation or whether it should be understood of the Sabbatical day i. e. the first day of the seven days of Passover which was a solemn day Exod. XII 16. the Baithusians contend vehemently for the former and will not have the sheaf offer'd but after the weekly Sabbath As suppose the first day of the Passover should fall out upon the first day of the week they would stay till the whole week with the Sabbath-day was run out and then on the morrow of that Sabbath i. e. the first day of the following week they offer'd the sheaf But the Scribes very differently keep strictly to the sixteenth day of the Month Nisan for offering the first-fruits without any dispensation after the Sabbatical-day or the first day of the Feast is over And amongst other arguments by which they strengthen their opinion those two different places of Scripture Exod. XII 15. Seven days ye shall eat unleavened bread and Deut. XVI 8. Six days thou shalt eat unleavened bread they according to the sense they have do thus reconcile Seven days indeed you shall eat unleavened bread that is unleavened bread of the old wheat on the first day of the Feast the sheaf being not yet offer'd and unleaven'd bread of the new wheat the remaining six days after you have offered the first-fruits l l l l l l Sipâ—ra fol. 51. 1. Pesikta fol. 21. 1. Menach fol. 66. 1 II. If the day of the first-fruits be to be taken into the number of the fifty days which the Authors now quoted do clearly enough affirm out of those words Deut. XVI 9. Number the seven weeks to thy self 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 when thou beginnest to put the sickle into the corn then it will appear plain enough to any one that upon whatsoever day of the week the sheaf-offering should fall on that day of the week the day of Pentecost would fall too And hence the Baithusians contended so earnestly that the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the morrow after the Sabbath on which it is commanded that the sheaf of the first-fruits should be offer'd should be understood of the first day of the week that so the day of Pentecost might fall out to be the first day of the week too not so much in honour of that day which is indeed our Lords-day but that the Pentecost might have the more Feast-days 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that the Israelites might delight themselves for two days together as one of them speaks out their meaning * * * * * * Menac fol. 65. 1. III. As to the year therefore we are now upon wherein Christ ascended and the Holy Ghost came down the sheaf-offering was on the Sabbath-day For the Paschal lamb was eaten on Thursday so that Friday on which day our Saviour was Crucified was the first day of the Feast the Sabbatical or Holy-day And the following-day which was their Sabbath was the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the second on which the sheaf was offered whiles Christ lay in the grave and for this very reason was it said to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 an high day of the Sabbath Joh. XIX 31. IV. Let us enquire therefore whether the day of Pentecost fell out on their Sabbath-day I know indeed that the fifty days are reckoned by some from the Resurrection of our Lord and then Pentecost or the fiftieth day must fall on the first day of the week that is our Lords-day but if we number the days from the common Epocha that is from the time of offering the sheaf of first-fruits which account doubtless St. Luke doth follow then the day of Pentecost fell out upon the Jewish Sabbath And here by the good leave of some learned men it may be question'd Whether the Holy Ghost was poured out upon the Disciples on the very day of Pentecost or no. The reasons of this question may be these I. The ambiguity of the words themselves ' 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which may be either render'd as we have done in English When the day of Pentecost was fully come or as they in the Italian Et nel finire del giorno de la Pentecoste q. d. when it was fully gone So that the phrase leaves it undetermin'd whether the day of Pentecost was fully come or fully gone and what is there could be alledg'd against it should we render it in the latter sense II. It is worthy our observation that Christ the Antitype in answering some Types that represented him did not tye himself up to the very day of the Type its self for the fulfilling of it but put it off to the day following So it was not upon the very day of the Passover but the day following that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Christ our Passover was sacrific'd for us 1 Cor. V. 7. It was not on the very day that the sheaf of the first-fruits was offer'd but the day following that Christ became 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the first-fruits of them that slept 1 Cor. XV. 20. So also did he institute the Christian Sabbath not the same day with the Jewish Sabbath wherein God had finisht the work of his Creation but the day following wherein Christ had finisht the work of his Redemption And so it was agreeable to reason and to the order wherein he dispos'd of things already mentioned that he should indulg that mysterious gift of the Holy Ghost not upon the day of the Jewish Sabbath but the day following the day of his own Resurrection from the grave that the Spirit should not be pour'd out upon the same day wherein the giving of the Law was commemorated but upon a day that might keep up the commemoration of himself for ever III. We can hardly invent a more fit and proper reason why upon this day they should be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 All with one accord in one place than that they were so gather'd together for the celebration of the Lords-day So that although we have adveutur'd to call it into question whether the Holy Ghost was pour'd out upon the very day of the Jewish Pentecost yet have we not done it with any love to contradiction but as having considerable reason so to do and with design of asserting to the Lords-day its just honour and esteem for on that day beyond all controversie the Holy Ghost did come down amongst them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. They were all with one accord c. Who were these 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 these ALL here mention'd probably the CXX spoken of Chap. I. 15. and the connexion falls in well enough with the foregoing story Those All were together when the Election of the twelfth
Fathers of the Sanhedrin and Rulers of the people and so in reviling him he transgressed that precept Thou shalt not speak evil of the Ruler of thy people as well as if he had reviled the High Priest II. It is very little to the credit of the Apostle to think that when he said God shall smite thee thou whited wall c. That he uttered it rashly and unadvisedly or carried away in an heat of passion and indignation or that he did not know whom he thus threatned or what degree and office he held But he spoke it soberly and as became an Apostle by the Authority and guidance of the Holy Ghost Nor did he nor had he any need to retract those words or make apology for his rashness but they are of the very same tenor with the rest that he uttered III. If this Ananias was that Sagan of the Priests that perished in the destruction of Jerusalem as hath been already said I would conceive his death was foretold prophetically by the Apostle rather than that he rashly poured out words that he afterwards retracted Let me therefore paraphrase upon the words before us I know it is not lawful to speak evil of the Ruler of the people nor would I have said these things to him which I have if I had owned such an one but I did not own him so for he is not worthy the name of an High Priest IV. The President of the Sanhedrin at this time was Rabban Simeon ben Gamaliel his Father Gamaliel having been dead about two or three years before Paul knew Simeon and Simeon very well knew him having been fellow Disciples and both sate together at the feet of Gamaliel nor indeed could he be ignorant of any of the Rulers of the people if they were of any age because he had been so long educated and conversed in Jerusalem So that it is very improbable he should not know either Ananias the High Priest if he were now present or Ananias the Sagan or indeed any of the Fathers of the Sanhedrin if they had any years upon their backs Indeed not a few years had passed since he had left Jerusalem But seeing formerly he had spent so many years there and had been of that Degree and Order that he was an Officer of the Sanhedrin and had a Patent from them he could not have so slippery and treacherous a memory but that upon his return he could readily know and distinguish their faces and persons And whereas it is said in the Verse immediately following That Paul perceived that the one part were Sadducees c. If it should be asked whence he came to distinguish so well concerning their persons it may be answered That if he had no other ways to know them he might understand that by his former knowledge of them He had known them from the time that he himself had been a Pharisee and conversed among them See Chap. XXII 5. V. Forasmuch therefore as he saith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I wist not I do not see how it can argue so much an ignorance of his person with whom he might have had some former transactions in obtaining that accursed commission against the followers of Christ but that it must relate to his affection rather than his understanding So that the sense is I knew not that there was any High Priest at all or I do not acknowledge this person for such an one It was safer to inveigh against the person than the office But if he had said concerning the very office I do not know that there is any High Priest at all I question not but he had uttered his mind being well assured that that High Priesthood was now antiquated by the death of our great High Priest Jesus For let us lay down this Problem Although the Apostle as to other things had owned the service of the Temple for he was purified in it Yet as to the High Priesthood he did not own the peculiar ministry of that doth it not carry truth with it seeing God by an irrefragrable token viz. the rending of the Veil of the Temple from the top to the bottom had shewn the end and abolishing of that office But suppose the words of the Apostle relate to the person and not the office and that they were spoken in reference to the man himself I do not own him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 High Priest that he is not worthy of that title Perhaps St. Paul knew of old how wicked a person he had been or from his present injustice or rash severity had reason enough to make such a reply To know instead of to own and acknowledge is not unusual in Scripture stile that is a sad and dreadful instance enough I know you not depart from me ye workers of iniquity And in the Jewish Writings when R. Judah being angry with Bar Kaphrah only said to him I know thee not he went away as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 one rebuked and took 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the rebuke to himself The story is this z z z z z z Moed Katon sol 16. 1. When bar Kaphrah came to visit him he said unto him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 O Bar Kaphrah I never knew thee He understood what he meant Therefore he took the rebuke unto himself for the space of thirty days VERS VIII 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Sadducees say there is no Resurrection WHAT therefore is the Religion of a Sadducee He Prays he Fasts he offers Sacrifice he observes the Law and yet doth not expect a Resurrection or life Eternal To what end is this Religion It is that he may obtain Temporal good things observing only the promise of them made in the Law and he seeks for nothing beyond the meer letter That the Sadducees took their denomination from one Sadoc a Disciple of Antigonus Socheus is commonly received and that not without reason In the mean time it may not be amiss to enquire whether Sadoc did himself deny the resurrection and whether he rejected all the Books of the Holy Scripture excepting the five Books of Moses which the Sadducees in some measure did I. The Jewish writers do relate his story with so much variety that as some represent him we might think he denies the resurrection and future rewards but as others that he did not For so say some a a a a a a Yuchasin fol. 15. 2. Sadoc and Baithus were the heads of the Hereticks for they erred concerning the words of their Master c. b b b b b b Ramban in Avoth cap. 1. Sadoc and Baithus hearing this passage from their Master be ye not as Servants that serve their Master for hire and reward sake c. they said among themselves our Master teaches us that there is neither reward nor punishment c. Therefore they departed from the rule and forsook the Law c. Others say otherwise c c c c c c
Text agrees with this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 He finisht his work on the sixth day c. You will say the Greek Version translated according to the Samaritan Text. I say the Samaritan Text was framed according to this Greek Version Who shall determine this matter between us That which goes current amongst the Jews makes for me viz. that this alteration was made by the Seventy two h h h h h h Megill fol. 9. 1. Massech Sopher cap. 1. But be it all one which followeth the other in this agreement we next produce in the same Chapter Gen. II. 19. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Lord God had formed out of the ground The Greek words are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Lord God formed as yet out of the ground The Samaritan Text agrees 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 We will not enquire here which follows which but we rather complain of the boldness of both the one to add the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the other 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as yet which seems to perswade us that God after he had created Adam and Eve did over and above create something anew which as yet to me is a thing unheard of and to whom is it not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That there is no resurrection In my notes upon Matth. III. 9. I take notice out of the Gloss upon Bab. Beracoth if he be of any credit that there were Hereticks even in the days of Ezra who said that there is no world but this which indeed falls in with Sadducism though the name of Sadducee was not known then nor a long time after But as to their Heresie when they first sprung up they seem principally and in the first place to have denyed the immortality of the Soul and so by consequence the resurrection of the body I know that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the Jewish Writers is taken infinite times for the Resurrection from the dead but it is very often taken also for the life of the dead So as the one denotes the resurrection of the body the other the immortality of the Soul In the beginning of the Talmudick Chapter Helec where there is a discourse on purpose concerning the life of the world to come they collect several arguments to prove 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the life of the dead out of the Law for so let me render it here rather than the resurrection of the dead And the reason of it we may judge from that one agrument which they bring instead of many others viz. i i i i i i Sanhedr fol. 90. 2. Some do say that it is proved out of this Scripture He saith unto them But ye did cleave unto the Lord your God 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 are alive every one of you this day Deut. IV. 4. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 It is plain that you are now alive when Moses speaks these things but he means this that in the day wherein all the world is dead ye shall live That is ye also though dead shall live which rather speaks out the immortality of the Soul after death than the resurrection of the body So our Saviours answer to the Sadducees Matth. XXII 31 32. from those words I am the God of Abraham c. is fitted directly to confute their opinion against the immortality of the Soul but it little either plainly or directly so proves the resurrection of the body but that the Sadducees might cavil at that way of proof And in that saying of the Sadducees themselves concerning the labourer working all the day and not receiving his wages at night there is a plain intimation that they especially considered of the state of the Soul after death and the non-resurrection of the body by consequence Let the words therefore be taken in this sense The Sadducees say Souls are not immortal and that there are neither Angels nor Spirits and then the twofold branch which our sacred Historian speaks of will the more clearly appear when he saith but the Pharisees confess both It is doubtful from the words of Josephus whether the Essenes acknowledge the resurrection of the body when in the mean time they did most heartily own the immortality of the Soul k k k k k k Iâ—s de excidâ— lib. 2. c. 12. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 This opinion prevails amongst them that the body indeed is corruptible and the matter of it doth not endure but Souls endure for ever immortal So that the question chiefly is concerned about the Souls Imortality 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Neither Angel nor Spirit They deny that the soul is immortal and they deny any spirits in the mean time perhaps not denying God to be a Spirit and that there is a Spirit of God mentioned Gen. I. 2. And it is a question whether they took not the occasion of their opinion from that deep silence they observe in Moses concerning the Creation of Angels or Spirits or from something else There is frequent mention in him of the apparitions of Angels and what can the Sadducee say to this Think you the Samaritans were Sadducees If so it is very observable that the Samaritan Interpreter doth once and again render the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 God by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Angels So Gen. III. 5. Ye shall be as Elohim Samar 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ye shall be as Angels Chap. V. 1. In the similitude of God Samar 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 In the similitude of Angels So also Chap. IX 6. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 In the similitude of Angels And whereever there is mention of Angels in the Hebrew Text the Samaritan Text retains the word Angels too Did not the Sadducees believe there were Angels once but their very being was for ever vanisht that they vanisht with Moses and were no more Did they believe that the soul of Moses was mortal and perisht with his body and that the Angels died with him otherwise I know not by what art or wit they could evade what they meet with in the Books of Moses concerning Angels that especially in Gen. XXXII 1. You will say perhaps that by Angels might be meant good motions and affections of the mind The Pharisees themselves do sometimes call evil affections by the name of Devils 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 an evil affection is Satan But they do not call good affections Angels nor can ye your selves apply that passage so The Angels of God met him and he called the name of that place Mahanaim i. e. two Camps or two hosts One of those Camps consisted of the multitude of his own family and will you have the other to consist of good affections If the Sadducees should grant that Angels were ever created Moses not mentioning their Creation in his History I should think they acknowledged the being of Angels in the same sense that we do in the whole story of the Pentateuch but that they conceived that after the History of
affirmative precept vain But if he be studious in the Law and conversant in it and if he fears marriage lest the care of providing for his wife hinder his study in the Law he may still tarry Because he that is employed in the precepts is free from that precept much more he that converseth in the study of the Law He whose mind is always taken up in the study of the Law as Ben Azzai and he that is intent upon it all his days if he marrieth not a wife in his hand is no iniquity But if affection prevail upon him let him marry a wife although he have now children lest he fall into evil thoughts d d d d d d Jevamoth cap. 6. hal 6. Let not a man refrain himself from generation and multiplying unless he hath children already The Gemara upon this place thus If he have children let him refrain himself from generation and multiplying but from marrying a wife let him not refrain himself It is forbid him to be without a wife because it is said It is not good for man to be alone And whosoever e e e e e e Ibid. fol. 63. 2 gives not himself to generation and multiplying is all one with a murtherer He is as though he diminished from the Image of God c. The Apostle therefore determines against the Jewish Schools that a man is not bound by the Law to marriage but that he is in his own power in this affair to contract himself or not as he finds himself continent or not They said it is a Command that every one marry a wife but he saith I have not a Command VERS IX 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 It is better to marry than to burn THAT you may apprehend the sense of the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to burn hear a story f f f f f f Kiddushin fol. 81. 1. Some captive women were brought to Nehardea and disposed in the house and in the Upper room 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of Rabh Amram 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 They took away the ladder or the stairs that the women might not go down for they were shut up there until they should be ransomed As one of them passed by the window the light of her great beauty shined into the house Amram taken with the womans beauty set up the stairs again which ten men scarcely could do that he might go up to the woman 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 when he was now got to the middle of the stairs he delayed his feet and stopped strugling with that evil affection to overcome it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And with a loud voice cried out Fire Fire in the house of Amram The Gloss saith This he did that the neighbours flocking thither he might desist from his purpose and from that affection out of shame The Rabbins run to him and seeing nothing of fire or flame say Thou hast disgraced us To whom he replied It is better that ye be disgraced in the house of Amram in this World than that ye be disgraced by me in the World to come He adjured that evil affection to go out of him and from thence it went out as a pillar of fire To which he said Thou art fire and I am flesh yet for all that I have prevailed against thee VERS X. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Not I but the Lord. AND on the contrary Vers. 12. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I speak not the Lord. I. Weigh first that distinction very usual in the Schools between 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 A text of Scripture and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 An Opinion g g g g g g Bava Bathra fol. 8. 2. Death by the sword is worse than death by the plague 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 If you will I will produce a Text of Scripture to prove this If you will I will produce reason or my opinion If you will I will produce an Opinion That renders one abominable but not this If you will I will produce Scripture Precious in the eyes of the Lord is the death the plague of his Saints Famine is worse than the sword 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 If you will I will produce an opinion Famine afflicts a long while the sword not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 If you will I will produce Scripture It is better for them that dye by the sword than that dye by famine And A burnt offering that is killed not under its proper notion the blood of it is not to be sprinkled under a notion that is not proper If you will I will produce 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 my opinion or reason If you will I will produce 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Text of Scripture And very many instances of that nature II. And now compare the words of the Apostle These things I say not but the Lord that is This is not my bare opinion but so saith the Scripture And on the contrary These things I say not the Lord that is This is my opinion although there be not some Text of Scripture which saith so in plain words Thus he explains himself Chap. IX 8. Say I these things and not the Law 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Let not the wife depart from her husband Nor without weighty reason doth he admonish concerning this thing also since both among Jews and Gentiles the opinion was too loose concerning the firmness of the marriage bond and more loose among the Jews than among the Gentiles I. Think first of the toleration of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 among them which take in their words h h h h h h Maimon Gerush cap. 11. If any marry a young maid and she afterward will not have him for her husband she may put him away and depart from him and there is no need of a bill of Divorse Hence this is the form 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of a Bill of this kind of putting away when the wife put away her husband if it were demanded In the day N. of the week N. of the month N. of the year N. 〈◊〉 the daughter of N. put away before us and said My mother or my brethren deceived me and wedded me or betrothed me when I was a young maid to N. the son of N. But I now reveal my mind before you that I will not have him c. II. Among them also there was departing from each other by mutual consent i i i i i i Berish. Rabb §. 17. A good man had a good wife but because they had not children 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 They mutually put away one another That good man married a bad wife and she made him bad That good woman married a bad husband and she made him good They allow also the same license to the Heathen l l l l l l Id. §. 18. R. Jochanan saith The sons of Noah have not divorse but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 they put away one
but him that redeemed them with a price VERS XXVI 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 For the present necessity AND by and by vers 29. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The time is short it remaineth The Corinthians enquired of the Apostle by a letter in the case of marriage as it seems by his answer I. Concerning Marriages between a believer and an unbeliever whether they were to be continued or not continued II. Concerning the Marriages of Virgins or single persons But now how a scruple should arise to them in this latter is somewhat obscure Among the Jewish Christians a scruple might arise whether it were lawful for a single man to abstain from marriage because in that nation as we have observed they commanded matrimony by Law But if the question were whether it was lawful for a Virgin or a single man to contract Matrimony For the Apostle answereth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Thou hast not sinned as though it were asked rather whether it were lawful to marry than whether it were lawful not to marry then you will scarcely conjecture whence it should arise but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 From the present necessity Our Apostle teacheth that some forbad marriage 1 Tim. IV. 3. But under what pretence Either under this that they babbled that marriage opposed the purity of the Gospel as Saturâ—ilus in Jereny or that they avoyded marriages for those calamities that hung over them They forbid marriage saith the Apostle and command to abstain h Lib. 1. c. 22. from meats Hear the Gemarists a little From i i i i i i â—â—â—◠〈◊〉 fol. 60. 7. the time that the second Temple was destroyed Pharisees Separatists were multiplyed in Israel who eat not flesh nor drunk wine To whom R. Josuah Why O my Sons do ye not eat flesh nor drink wine And they answered should we eat flesh of which we were wont to offer on the Altar and now it is perished And shall we drink wine of which we were wont to pour out upon the Altar and now it is ceased When a wicked Empire ruled over Israel and decreed rough things against them and made the Law and the precept cease from them and permitted them not to circumcise their children they said to R. Jesus It is fit that we resolve among our selves not to contract marriage nor beget Sons c. Behold men prepared and sworn almost to perpetual abstinence from marriage by reason of calamities From the like cause also I suspect some Christians might be in doubt in the times of the Apostles Our Saviour had foretold that those times should be very rough that went before the Destruction of Jerusalem Mat. XXIV And that not within the bounds of Judea only but that judgment should begin from the Temple of God every where 1 Pet. IV. 17. and a day of Temptation should come upon the whole world Revel III. 20. So that that prediction being known to the Churches and the times now inclining towards those calamities it is no wonder if concern and care about those straits invaded the Christians and deterred very many single persons from marriage CHAP. VIII VERS I. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 We know that we all have knowledg 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Knowledg of which the Apostle here speaks is the knowledge of the liberty of the Gospel but these words are spoken Ironically as if he had said It is concluded by all that they know sufficiently that Evangelic liberty and thereupon some run out into things which are not convenient That Knowledg puffeth up renders men bold neglects the consciences of others and he that in this sense seems to know something as yet knows nothing as he ought to know VERS IV. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 An Idol is nothing in the world I Render it We know that there is no Idol in the World that is a representation of God 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 An Idol as the Lexicographers teach is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 A likeness an Image a Sign a Character a Shadow Idols indeed are in the World made of wood stone gold silver c. but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 there is No Idol there is no representation or figure of God and none can be The Apostle hitherto as I indeed think puts on the person of those who made no scruple in eating things offered to Idols as though he had said You say We know that there is no representation of God in the World and there is only one God c. Therefore those graven Images and those various Idols are mere figments of humane mistake and to offer Sacrifices to them is a mere invention of men there is nothing sacred nothing of Religion in them because there is no representation of God in them Shall we therefore who are under the liberty of the Gospel abstain from eating that flesh which the foolishness of men only hath separated from common use and offered to stocks and stones which have nothing of God in them but are created only by the same humane sottishness Ye say truth indeed but illy applied and all have not this knowledg Or if you render it An Idol is nothing in the world it comes to the same sense VERS X. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Sitting at meat in the Idol Temple COmpare those passages of the Talmudists 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a a a a a a Sanhedr fol. 61. 2. He that adores an Idol out of love or fear Rabba saith he is free Abai saith he is guilty Abai saith he is guilty because he worships it Rabba saith he is free 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 If he take it for God he iâ— so he is guilty 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 But if he doth not he is not And a little after If he supposeth the Idol Temple to be the Synagogue and adore an Idol 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Behold his heart is towards God 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 But if he see a statue and adore it if he take it for God he is guilty 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as doing presumpâ—uously But if he takes it not for God 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 It is nothing at all The Gloss there is Behold his heart is towards God although he know that that house is an Idol Temple and he adores God in it it is no crime c. If he see a statue such as they are wont to set up for the picture of the King and adore it not under the Notion of an Idol but in honour of the King it is nothing Hieronymus à sancta Fide cites this Talmudic passage in these words b b b b b b Lib. 2. Contr. Judaeos cap. 2. They say in the book Sanhedrin If any worship an Idol out of love or fear he is free and R. Solomon glosseth thus By love is understood that if any Master should ask his Servant that out of love to him he would adore him By fear that if any Master should threaten
VERS V. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 But every woman I. IT was the custom of the women and that prescribed them under severe Canons that they should not go abroad but with their face vailed If m m m m m m Maimon in 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 cap. 24 a woman do these things she transgresseth the Jewish Law if she go out into the street or into an open Porch 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and there be not a vail upon her as upon all women although her hair be rolled up under a hood 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 What n n n n n n 〈◊〉 fol. 72. 1. is the Jewish Law Let not a woman go with her head uncovered This is founded in the Law for it is said of the suspected wife The Priest shall uncover her head Numb V. 18. And the tradition of the School of Ismael is that the Daughters of Israel are admonished hence not to go forth with their heads not vailed And o o o o o o Schab â— â—0 1 Modest women colour one Eye with paint The Gloss there is Modest woman went vailed and uncovered but one Eye that they might see and that Eye they coloured p p p p p p Bava Kama fol. 90. 2. One made bare a womons head in the street she came to complain before R. Akiba and he fined the man four hundred Zuzees II. But however women were vailed in the streets yet when they resorted unto holy Service they took off their vails and exposed their naked faces and that not out of lightness but out of religion 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 q q q q q q 〈◊〉 fol. â—â— 1. The three feasts are the Scabs of the year The Gloss is The three feasts Passover Pentecost and Tabernacles are the breakings out of the year by the reason of the association of men and women and because of transgressions Because in the days of those feasts men and women assembled together to hear Sermons and cast their Eyes upon one another And some say that for this cause they were wont to fast after Passover and Pentecost From whence it may readily be gathered that men and women should not so promiscuously and confusedly meet and sit together nor that they should so look upon one another as in the Courts of the Temple and at Jerusalem when such innumerable multitudes flocked to the Feasts but that women should sit by themselves divided from the men where they might hear and see what is done in the Synagogue yet they themselves remain out of sight Which custom Baronius proves at large and not amiss that those first Churches of the Christians retained When the women therefore did thus meet apart it is no wonder if they took off the vails from their faces when they were now out of the sight of men and the cause of their vailing being removed which indeed was that they might not be seen by men The Apostle therefore does not at all chide this making bare the face absolutely considered but there lies something else within For III. This warning of the Apostle respects not only publick religious meetings but belongs to those things which were done by men and women in their houses and inner chambers for there also they used these rites when they prayed and handled holy things privately as well as in the publick assemblies r r r r r r Hieros Avâ—â—ah Zâ—râ—h fol. 4â— 1. Rabban Gamaliel journying and being asked by one that met him concerning a certain vow he light off his horse 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and vailed himself and sat down and loosed the vow So R. Judah Bar Allai on the Sabbath Eve when he composed himself in his house to meet and receive the Sabbath they brought him warm water and he washed his face and hands and feet 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And vailing himself with his linnin cloth of divers colours he sat down and was like the Angel of the Lord of Hosts So in the example of Nicodemus lately produced He went into his School alone privately and vailed himself and prayed So did men privately and women also on the contrary baring their faces privately A reason is given of the former namely that the men were vailed for reverence towards God and as being ashamed before God but why the women were not vailed also the reason is more obscure A more general may easily be rendred viz. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That a woman was loosed or free from the precept that is from very many rites to which men were subject as from the carrying of Fringes and Phylacteries from these or the other forms and occasions of prayers and from very many Ceremonies and Laws to which men were bound s s s s s s In Menachoth fol. 43. 2. R. Meir saith Every man is bound to these three benedictions every day Blessed be God that he hath not made me a Heathen that he hath not made me a woman that he hath not made me 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 stupid or unlearned But Rabb Acha bar Jacob when he heard his Son saying Blessed be God that he hath not made me 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 unlearned stuck at it and upon this reason as the Gloss interprets 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Because a Heathen and a woman are not capable of the precept but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a rude or unlearned man is capable Deservedly therefore God is blessed that God made him not a Heathen or a woman By this Canon that a woman was loosed from the precept they were exempted from covering the face during Religious Worship when that precept respected men and not women But if you require a more particular reason of this exemption what reason will you find for it It is almost an even lay whether the Canonists exempted women from vailing because they valued them much or because they valued them little In some things they place women below the dignity and without the necessity of observing those or the other rites and whether in this thing they were of the same opinion or that on the contrary they attributed more to the beauty of the faces of women than of men is a just question But whether the thing bend this way or the other the correction and warning of the Apostle doth excellently sute to this or to that as it will appear in what follows 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Dishonoureth her head Dishonoureth her head What head That which she carries upon her shoulders Or that to which she is subjected As the man to Christ the woman to the man That the Apostle is to be understood especially of the later appears from the verse before and indeed from the whole context For to what end are those words produced vers 3. I would have you know that the head of the woman is the man c. unless that they be applyed and make to the Apostles business im the verses following Nor
another prayed or preached in the Hebrew Language according to the custom used in the Synagogues Which thing indeed the Apostle allowed so there were an Interpreter as was done in the Synagogues because that Language full of misteries being rendred by a fit Interpreter might very much conduce to the Edification of the Church I suspect also that they Judaized in the confused mixture of their voices which seems to be done by them because the Apostle admonisheth them to speak by turns ver 27. and not together Now from whence they might fetch that confusedness judge from these passages d d d d d d Megil fol. 21. 2. The Rabbins deliver In the Law one reads and one interpreters And let not one read and two interpret But in the Prophets one reads and two interpret But let not two read and two interpret And in the Hallel and in the book of Esther ten may read and ten interpret The Gloss is thus Let not one read in the Law and two interpret Much less let two read And the reason is because two voices together are not heard But in the Prophets let one read and two interpret Because the interpretation was for the sake of women and the common people who understood not the holy Language An it was necessary they should hear the interpretation of the Law that they might understand the precepts But of the interpretation of the Prophets they were not so accurate 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 He that prophesieth The word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 To prophesie comprehends three things Singing Psalms Doctrin and Revelation as vers 26. I. To Prophesy is taken for singing Psalms or celebrating the praises of God 1 Sam. X. 5. A Choir of Prophets shall meet thee with a drum a pipe and a harp and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 they shall prophesy Where the Chaldee 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And they shall sing or praise And Chap. XIX 24 25. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And he went forward singing And he put off his royal garment 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and sung From this signification of the word prophesying you may understand in what sense a woman is said to prophesy Chap. XI 5. that is To sing Psalms For what is there said by the Apostle A man praying or prophesying and a woman praying or prophesying is explained in this Chapter when it is said I will pray and I will sing II. To prophesie is to preach or to have a doctrin as vers 26. Hence the Chaldee almost always renders 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Prophet by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Scribe or Learned or one that teacheth When it is very ordinarily said of those that were endued with extraordinary gifts That they spake with Tongues and Prophesied Act. X. 46. it is said that they spake with Tongues and magnified God For they prophesied is said they magnified God And that these two ways either by praysing God or by preaching and declaring the wonderful things of God Act. XI 11. III. To Prophesy is to foretel and teach something from divine revelation which is expressed vers 26. by Hath a revelation In those times there were some who being inspired with a Spirit of Revelation either foretold things to come as Agabus did a famine Act. XI 28. and Pauls bonds Act. XXI 10. or revealed the mind of God to the Church concerning the doing or the not doing this or that thing as Act. XIII 2. By the Prophets of Antioch they separate Paul and Barnabas c. VERS V. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I would that ye all spake with Tongues THE words do not so much speak wishing as directing as though he had said I restrain you not to prophesying alone however I speak those things which are vers 1 2 3. But I will exhort that ye spake with Tongues when it is convenient but rather that ye prophesy He had said Tongue in the singular number vers 2 4. because he spake of a single man now he saith Tongues in the plural number in the very same sense but that he speaks of many speaking Would the Apostle therefore have this or doth he perswade it or doth he wish it if so be it be a wish I would have you all speak in the Church in the Punic Egyptian Ethiopic Scythian and other unknown tongues Think seriously to what end this could be But if you understand it of the Hebrew the end is plain VERS XV. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 What is it then THE Apostle renders in Greek the Phrase 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 most common in the Schools e e e e e e Bab. Chetubb fol. 39 1. Rabba asked Abai 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 A man goes in to the woman when she is espoused what then Or what is to be resolved in that case Again f f f f f f Ibid. f. 61. 1. The wife saith I will suckle the Infant but the husband saith thou shalt not suckle him The women hearken But the husband saith that she should suckle it the wife saith not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 What is then to be done g g g g g g Bava Mezia fol. 24. 2. One goes in the street and finds a purse 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 What is to be done with it behold it becomes his But an Israelite comes and gives some signs of it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 What is then to be resolved on 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 h h h h h h Jevamoth fol. 25. 1. Let our Master teach us 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 A Priest that hath a blemish 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 What is it that he lift up his hands to bless the people that is What is to be resolved concerning him whether he should lift up his hands or no And the determination of the Question follows every where To the same sense the Apostle in this place 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 What therefore is to be done in this case about the use of an unknown tongue he determines I will pray with the Spirit and I will pray with the understanding So vers 26. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 What is it brethren that is What is to be done in this case when every one hath a Psalm hath a doctrin c. He determines Let all things be done to edification 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. I will pray with the Spirit c. That is in the demonstration of the gifts of the Spirit and I will pray with the understanding that is That I be understood by others VERS XVI 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 He that occupieth the room of the unlearned 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Hidjot a word very usual among the Rabbins 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i i i i i i Bab. Mezia fol. 104. 1. R. Meir explained or determined in the private tongue So also R. Judah And Hillel the old And R. Jochanan ben Korchah c. The Gloss is Private men were wont to write
unless they be writ in Hebrew II. It is disputed b b b b b b Schabb. fol. 115. 1. Whether it be lawful to snatch the holy Books out of the fire on the Sabbath day when that cannot be done without some labour And it is concluded without all scruple that if they are wrote in Hebrew they ought to be snatched out but if in an other Language or in other Characters then it is doubted Yea R. Jose saith They are not to be snatched out III. It is disputed further 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 if the holy Books so written shall come to your hands whether you may destroy them with your own hand either by cutting or tearing them or throwing them into the fire and it is concluded indeed in the negative which yet is to the same effect as though it were determined in the Affirmative Let them be laid up say they in some foul place where they may be consumed by themselves And it is related of Rabban â—â—â—aliel first that when 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Book of Job made into a Targum was brought to him he commanded that it should be buried under a heap of stones Which example also a certain Rabbin afterward urgeth to his great grand-son Gamaliel that he also should bury under ground the Book of Job Targumized which he had in his hand to be consumed The Book of Job Targumized was that Book translated into the Chaldee Language the Mother Tongue of the Nation the Tongue into which the Law and the Prophets were rendred in the Synagogues and yet by no means did they tolerate the Version of that Book which indeed was not read in the Synagogues though rendred in that Language much less would they tolerate the Version of the Law and the Prophets into a more remote and more Heathen Language These things well considered one may with good reason suspect that the Jews thought not so honourably of any Version as to cast away the Hebrew Bible and to espouse that in the room of it And what they might or did think concerning the Greek Version of the LXX as it is called let us as much as we can briefly search CHAP. VII A Comparison of the History of the LXX as it is in Iosephus and as it is in the Talmudists THE story as it is in Josephus and Aristeas hath no need to be repeated being so well known to all From which how vastly different is it from the story as it is related in the Talmudists Which we transcribe verbatim from Massecheth Sopherim a a a a a a Cap. 1. thus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 There is a story of five Elders who transcribed the Law for Ptolomy the King in Greek And that day was bitter to Israel as the day wherein the golden Calf was made Because the Law could not be turned according to all things requisite to it And again there is a story of King Ptolomy that he assembled seventy two Elders together and disposed them into seventy two Cells But he revealed not to them why he had assembled them But coming in to every one of them said to them write me out the Law of Moses your Master God put council into each of their hearts that their minds agreed in one And they wrote out for him the Law by it self But they changed thirteen places in it The Babylonian Talmud f relates the story in the like manner this only excepted â— In Megill that there is no mention of the five Elders as also that this clause is wanting They wrote out the Law for him by it self I. Josephus speaks glorious things of letters sent from the King to the High Priest sending for Interpreters of Presents sent to Eleazar and other things consecrated to the Temple of many Talents spent by Ptolomy for the redemption of the Jews of honourable rewards conferred upon the Interpreters all which according to the account of Josephus and Aristeas amounted to such a sum that one might with reason believe the whole Alexandrian Library was not worth so much yea a whole years tax of Egypt would scarcely have been of that value But of all this there is deep silence in the Talmudists and yet usually they want not either for Will or Elocution when something is to be declared for the glory of their own nation They are not silent of the gifts of Monobazus and Helena Nicanor Ben Kattin c. of the gifts of Princes either given or lent to their Rabbins but of these vast expences of Ptolomy there is not one Syllable II. In Josephus the Interpreters are sent for by letters and that under that notion that they should interpret But in the Talmudists they are convened being altogether ignorant what they must do III. In Josephus they turn the Law at least into Greek in the Talmudists it is obscure whether they translated any thing at all Of the five Elders indeed it is said in terms that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 they transcribed in Greek that is they turned as the word which followeth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to interpret sufficiently explains But of the Seventy there is no such thing but only this That they transcribed the Law by its self and changed thirteen places in it There is a passage indeed where the Babylonian Talmudists are brought in with their relation whereby one might think that they intimated that the Seventy translated into Greek Our c c c c c c Megil f. 9. 1. Masters say they permitted not that the holy Books should be transcribed but into Greek And it is a Tradition R. Judah saith when they permitted to transcribe in Greek they permitted it of the Book of the Law only 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And that because of that which happened to King Ptolomy Or let it be as it is rendred by some Whence the work was begun with Ptolomy the King But if any should say that they transcribed indeed in Greek that is the Hebrew Text in Greek letters and translated not you would scarcely refute him out of the Talmudists especially when elsewhere they distinguish between writing out 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in any Language d d d d d d Scabb fol. 115. 1. that is in the Characters of any Language and writing out 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by a Version into any Language and when there was a publication and edition of a double Hebrew Text in Origens Hexapla and Octapla e e e e e e â—piphan haeres 63. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 In Hebrew and Greek Characters he seems not to have been without his Copy in which the Hebrew Text it self was written out in Greek Letters What at length does that mean They writ out the Law by it self Certainly either this They transcribed the Law only and not the other Books or rather they transcribed the Hebrew Law it self in Hebrew and turned it not They wrote out say they the
And now let us briefly weigh what things are said on the contrary side CHAP. X. What things are objected for the Affirmative I. FIRST That passage is objected a a a a a a Hieros Sotah cap. 7. R. Levi went to Cesarea and hearing them read the Lesson 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Schma Deut. VI. in Greek would hinder them R. Jose observing it was angry saying He that cannot read in Hebrew shall he not read at all Yea let a man read in any Tongue which he understands and knows and so satisfie his Duty So the words are rendred by a very learned Man But the Gemara treats not of reading the Law in the Synagogues but concerning the repeating of the passages of the Phylacteries among which the first was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Hear O Israel Deut. VI. Therefore the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is not to be rendred reading but repeating In which sense the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 occurs very frequently in the Masters As 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 b b b b b b Bab. Megill fol. 17. 1. She recites the book of Ester by her mouth that is without book And c c c c c c Biccurim fol. 86. 1. Heretofore every one that could 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Recite that passage used in offering the first fruits Deut. XXVI 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Recited And he that could not recite 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 they taught him to recite or they recited for him II. That example and story is urged concerning reading the Law and the Prophets in the Synagogue of Antioch of Pisidia Act. XIII 15. To which there is no need to answer any thing else but that it begs the Question III. That also of Tertullian is added d d d d d d Apoleget cap. 18. Sed Judaei palam lectitant Vectigalis libertas vulgo auditur or aditur singulis Sabbatis But the Jews also read openly the liberty of the Tax is heard or gone unto every Sabbath day I answer Be it granted that Tertullian speaks of the Greek Version which is not so very evident that which was done under Severus doth not conclude the same thing done in the times of the Apostles but especially when Severus was according to the sense of his name very severe towards the Jews as Baronius teacheth and Spartianus long before him Under whom Sabbaths could not be kept by the Jews but under a Tax And be it granted that the Greek Version was read then by them at Rome as the Glosser upon Tertullian describes the scene of the affair that was also under a Tax not by the choise of the people but by pure compulsion IV. That of Justin Martyr is produced 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 e e e e e e Orâ—â— Pâ—ranâ—â— ad Graecos But if any say that these books belong not to us but the Jews and therefore they are to this day preserved in their Synagogues And 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. f f f f f f Apolog. â— The books remained even among the Egyptians hitherto and are every where among all the Jews who reading them understand them not V. But that is instead of all that Philo and Josephus follow the Greek Version and that which is still greater the holy Pen-men do follow it in the New Testament in their allegations taken out of the Old Therefore without doubt say they that Version was frequent and common in the Synagogues and in the hands of men and without doubt of the highest authority among the Jews yea as it seemeth of divine These are the arguments which are of the greatest weight on that side That I may therefore answer together to all let us expatiate a little in this enquiry CHAP. XI By what Authors and Counsils it might probably be that that Greek Version came forth which obtains under the Name of the Seventy I. IT was made and published without doubt not for the sake of the Jews but of the Heathen We have Josephus a witness here in his story of the Seventy granting him to be true in that relation what moved Ptolomey so greedily to desire the Version to purchase so small a Volume at such vast expenses Was it Religion Or a desire of adorning his Library By that paint does Josephus colour the business but reason will dictate a third cause and that far more likely For both the Jewish and Heathen Writers teach that Egypt at that time was filled with an infinite multitude of Jews and what could a prudent King and that took care of himself and his Kingdom do else than look into the manners and institutions of that Nation whether they consisted with the peace and security of his Kingdom since that people was contrary to the manners and Laws of all other Nations When therefore he could neither examine nor understand their Law which comprized their whole Religion Polity and Occonomy being writ in Hebrew it was necessary for him to provide to have it translated into their Vulgar Tongue Hence arose the Version of the five Elders as we may well suppose and lest some fraud or collusion might creep in the assembling of the Seventy two Elders was occasioned hence also And does it not favour of some suspicion that he assembled them being altogether ignorant what they were to do For let reason tell us why we should not rather give credit to the Talmudists writing for their own Country-men than to Josephus writing for the Heathen And if there be any truth in that relation that when he had gathered them together he shut them up by themselves in so many chambers that still increaseth the same suspicion II. Let it be yielded that they turned it into Greek which as we have seen is doubtful yet the speech in the Gemarists is only concerning the Books of Moses and concerning the Law only in Josephus Who therefore Translated the rest of the Books of the Holy Volume It is without an Author perhaps should we say the Jerusalem Sanhedrin but not without reason For III. The Jews wheresoever dispersed through out the World and they in very many Regions infinite in their numbers made it their earnest request that they might live and be governed by their own Laws and indeed they would live by none but their own But what Prince would grant this being altogether ignorant what those Laws were They saw their manners and rites were contrary to all other Nations it was needful also to see whether they were not contrary to the peace of their Kingdoms That very jealousie could not but require the Version of those Laws into the common Language and to force it also from them how unwilling soever they might be The great Sanhedrin therefore could not consult better and more wisely for the safty and security and religion of the whole Nation than by turning their Holy Books into the Greek Language that all might know what it was that they professed They could
not but see but those Books would at last though they were never so unwilling come forth in the Vulgar Language nor could they hinder but they would every where happen into the hands of the Heathen therefore that it would be far better that a Version should come forth by their care and authority which might be according to their pleasures than that some should come forth in one place and some in another which perhaps might turn to the disgrace of the Holy Text or to the danger and reproach of the Nation or might too much lay open the Holy Mysteries among the Heathen By these Authors and by these reasons I confess ingenuously it is my opinion that that Version was made which goes about under the name of the Seventy Nor are there some things wanting in the Version it self which hint some such counsil in the publishing of it For IV. Even a blear Eye may see clearly enough that it was hammered out and dressed with more caution than conscience more craft than sincerity 1. That as much as might be the Holy Books might remain free from any reproach or cavilling of the Heathen 2. That they might soften some things which might be injurious to the Jewish Nation either as to their peace or reputation or which might create offence to the Gentiles 3. That the mysteries and the bare truth of the Holy Books might be revealed as little as possibly could be to the Heathen All which might be demonstrated by such numberless examples as to leave no occasion to doubt of that matter behind it By these and the like cautions and subtilties was that Version made where in the Translators had less care that the Interpretation should come out sincere and true but provision was chiefly made that any thing should be thrust upon the Gentiles so it were without danger and that the Glory and safety of the Jewish Nation might be maintained And may it be allowed me to speak out what I think Among the various Copies and Editions of this Version which go about I do not esteem that Copy for the most genuine which comes nearest to the Hebrew Text but that which comes nearest to the mind of the Translators in such like cautions It is said as we saw before that when the five Elders had turned the Law That day was bitter to Israel as the day wherein the Golden Calf was made And why Because the Law could not be turned according to all things convenient to it Did their grief arise hence because it was not turned nor could not be clearly exactly and evidently enough that the Heathen might see the full and open light of it Who will believe that this ever was the Jews desire or wish But their trouble proceeded rather from hence that those five had not Translated it cunningly warily and craftily enough as the Gentiles were to be dealt withal Of this matter there was care enough taken in this Version the Authors setting all their strength and wits on work that according to their own pleasures it might come forth such as they would have it and might serve their purpose both as to themselves and as to the Gentiles This they established and strengthned by their own authority not as a pure Version and such as was to be recommended to their Countrymen but as fit enough to stop the mouths and satisfie the curiosity of the Heathen and lest any among them might attempt another in which those cautions and provisions might not be sufficiently observed This they laid up in their Sanhedrins and Synagogues that it might be ready and shewn to the Heathen as a Symbol and token of the Jewish Law Faith and Religion if at any time the matter and necessity called for some such thing We grant therefore to Justin Martyr that that Version was in the Synagogues and hands of the Jews but one would not conclude from that that it was read in the Synagogue instead of the Hebrew Text. And we will yield also to Tertullian that that Version was read at Rome in his age in the Synagogues of the Jews but being compelled so to do by that suspicion whereof we spake namely that it might be known to all what the Law and Religion of the Jews was whether it consisted with the Roman Government Our Question is whether the Hellenists chose to themselves the reading of the Greek Version and neglected the Hebrew Text and seeing for the most part they lived by their own Laws and Ordinances you will hardly any where shew me especially in the times of the Apostles concerning which we speak or in the times before them that they were compelled to reject the one and to read the other And as to that which is objected concerning Philo and Josephus t is no wonder if they writing for the Heathen followed that Version which was designedly made for the Heathen But that is of the greatest weight of all which is objected concerning the Evangelists and Apostles who embraced that Version in their quotations out of the Old Testament To which the Answer is very easie Namely Those Holy Writers had to do with two sorts of men Jews and Gentiles the Volume of the New Testament was in the hands of both A Gentile desires to examine the quotations which are brought out of the Old Testament But not understanding the Hebrew whether should he go but to the Greek Version which he understands So that it was not only 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 out of condescension that those Holy Writers followed the Greek Version but out of pure necessity for otherwise it was impossible that their allegations out of the Law and the Prophets could be examined by the Gentiles And if a Jew having the New Testament in his hand should complain and quarrel that in their quotations they departed from the Hebrew Text they had an answer ready viz. This very Version which is cited is that very same which ye have writ published and propounded to the World as the Symbol and token of your Law and Religion and as your own very Bible If we would designedly attempt a full disquisition concerning that Version we might it may be more at large demonstrate all these things which have been spoken by various instances reasons and methods But let this suffice at present This discourse was raised by occasion of the mention of the unknown Tongue Chap. XIV which we suppose was Hebrew formerly used in the Hellenistical Synagogue of the Corinthians and which they would retain being now converted to the Gospel too much wresting to Judaism the gift of Tongues in the same manner as they did the other privileges and ordinances of the Gospel and using an unknown Language so much the rather because the gift of Tongues was granted from Heaven using it to an end plainly contrary to the gift it self unhappily perverting it and not requiring not admitting now an Interpreter which before was done by them as if they thought God had
Law to be laid upon man that it requires it the more because in that he is not looked upon only as a Creature to serve his Creator but as a Creature that is to enjoy his Creator Accordingly when God created Adam he wrote a Law in his Heart and made a Covenant with him upon the full terms of the Law for perfect obedience and this is commonly called his Covenant of Works with Adam The short Draught of that Covenant is this If thou performest perfect obedience according to the tenor of this Law To love the Lord with all thy heart c. thou shalt be blessed and enjoy God for ever if not then thou shalt be cursed and perish for ever Now observe the two contrary parts of this Proposal of God which we cannot but conceive to have been the tenor of the Covenant of Works with him First The Promissory part If thou performest perfect obedience thou shalt be saved There is mercy that God promiseth Salvation as well as Justice that he requires obedience For Adams obedience was due from him as a Creature though there had been no Salvation for him But in the Threatning part there was nothing but Justice If thou performest not perfect obedience thou shalt perish and all the equity in the World in it For as such obedience was due from him to God so was he then able to perform it and deserved perdition if he did not But Adam fell and that Covenant of Grace came in and then what became of the equity of that Law Did the Covenant of Grace extinguish Gods just claim of mans obedience Nay of mans perfect obedience No for God must not lose one tittle of his right and due but that Grace that made the Covenant did contrive that Christ must pay the perfect obedience and the believer the best obedience he can As he under the Law that could not reach a Lamb c. his sacrifice was not remitted but that sacrifice abated and he was to bring what he could two Turtles So man is now grown poor and cannot perform perfect obedience yet the Covenant of Grace doth not remit his obedience but abates the execution takes perfect obedience in his behalf from Christ but requires the perfectest he can perform from him too So that a sinner though he cannot perform obedience is not therefore acquitted from the Laws challenge of obedience nor a Believer though Christ has paid perfect nay infinite obedience for him yet he is not acquitted from obeying the best he can And the reason is because nothing can disannul Gods just claim of obedience from his creature So that this Law of obedience being founded in Gods being God and in our being his creatures it is impossible that God should make a Covenant with man for Grace and Salvation and this not be included Now though in the Covenant of Grace it stands not as in Adams Covenant of Works as by the performance of which to be justified yet doth it so stand in it as without Works performed there is no participation of God nay without which the Covenant is no Covenant What is said of the Sacramental Elements the like may be said in this case Elementum adde verbum sit Sacramentum Here are the Elements add the word of institution and it becomes a Sacrament So hoc est promissum adde legem fit foedus Here is the promise add the Law and it is a Covenant For though Promise and Covenant be sometimes convertible yet the Promise barely considered is not the Covenant without the Conditions of the Law affixed to it And under this notion in Gods own Language the Commandments of God are the Covenant of God Psal. CIII 18. To those that keep his Covenant which is explained in the next clause which remember his Commandments to do them They that keep his Covenant One would think it should be To those to whom he keeps his Covenant But herein the main stress of the matter â—â—es if they keep his Commandments there is no doubt of the God of Truth performing his promise As the stress of Gods reconciliation to man is laid mainly in Scripture upon mans being reconciled to God II Cor. V. 19. God was in Christ reconciling the World unto himself Col. I. 20. To reconcile all things to himself Not so much himself to the World as the World to himself not so much himself to all things as all things to himself for here is the great business to get man reconciled unto God and then no doubt of Gods being reconciled to man So there is no doubt of Gods performing his promise of Grace and Salvation but the great business is mans performing his part and keeping his Law And thus having spoken to that Question which in our enumeration came the second Why the Ark is called the Ark of the Covenant It hath made some way to answer the first How may Christians inquire of God in their doubtings as Israel did here and elsewhere in theirs I must answer briefly and that in the Words of Gods himself Esa. VIII 29. To the Law and to the Testament To the written Word of God Search the Scriptures As you might appeal to Balaam to bear witness concerning the blessedness of Israel whereas he was called forth to curse them So for the proof of this matter viz. That there is now no other way to enquire of God but only from his Word you may appeal to those very Scriptures that they produce that would maintain that there are Revelations and Inspirations still and that God doth still very often answer his People by them They produce that That they shall all be taught of God that is say they All the Saints shall be taught by the Spirit but that passage aims a clean other way as relating to the Gentiles as it doth in Esa. LIV. 13. hence it is quoted It means that whereas they in their Heathen blindness had been taught of the Devil by his Oracles Prophets Pythonesses and the like God would bring in the Gospel among them and so they now should be taught of God Or as relating to the Jews as Christ applies it Joh. VI. 45. the meaning is that whereas they had been taught by men either by Scribes and Pharisees which were evil men or by holy Priests and Prophets which were but men they should in time be taught and now were of God himself Christ Preaching among them as the Apostle observes Heb. I. 1. They produce that Heb. VIII 11. And they shall not teach every one his neighbour and every man his brother saying Know the Lord for all shall know me from the least to the greatest from Jer. XXXI whereas the meaning is but this that by the Word of the Gospel should come in so clear light and so great means of knowledge that none but might know God if they would seek to know him And to the very same sence and tenor speaks that strange expression Esa. LXV 20. There
to the wisdom of this World are the great matters and mysteries of the Gospel and of Salvation The Judgment to come that he speaks of in this verse he characters or pictures in divers colours or circumstances I. The object of it He shall judge the World II. The manner He shall judge it in Righteousness III. The time At a day which he hath appointed IV. The agent to be imploied in it The man whom he hath ordained V. And lastly the certainty of it He hath given assurance thereof c. There is some controversie about the translating of that clause He hath given assurance In the Greek it is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which will admit a double construction The Vulgar Latin and the Syriack gives one our English and the French another The Vulgar Latine renders it Fidem praebens omnibus Which I should have supposed might freely have been rendred in the sense our English gives Giving assurance to all but that I find some expositions constrain him another way viz. Affording faith to all and the Syrian inclines the same way for it renders Restoring every man to his faith or to faith in him As if the meaning were that God by the Resurrection of Christ did restore the World to faith and believing from that ignorance and infidelity which it lay under before which is a real and a very noble truth but I question whether that be the Apostles meaning in this place For he is shewing That God had appointed an universal Judgment and hath ordained Christ to be Judge and for proof and confirmation of both especially of the latter he saith as our English well renders he hath given assurance and as the French he hath given certainty in that he hath raised and the Greek very clearly bears such a sense And this to be the sense that is intended is yet further clear by observing the argumentation of the Apostle in this place Read the verse before The times of their ignorance God winked at but now commandeth every man to repent Because he hath appointed a day c. Why Was not this day appointed before that time that Christ was risen The Jews will tell you that Heaven and Hell were created before the World then certainly the Judgment that was to deem to Heaven or Hell was appointed before But our Saviour in the sentence that he shall pronounce at that Judgment Matth. XXV Come ye blessed of my Father receive the Kingdom prepared for you c. shews that the appointing of the day of Judgment was of old time long and long ago before Christs Resurrection but the Apostle tells that he had never given such assurance of it before as he did then by raising him that should be Judge The Apostle at this portion of Scripture doth plainly shew three things First He lays down a doctrine Secondly He proves it And thirdly He makes application His doctrine is That God hath appointed a day wherein he will Judge the World in Righteousness His proof From Gods own real vouchment He hath given assurance in that he raised Christ from the dead His application therefore Let all men in every place repent I should deserve a just censure if I should refuse the Apostles method to take another and not tread in the steps of that Logical proceeding that he had printed before Yet I shall decline to insist much upon the confirmation of the doctrine as a particular head by it self since the taking up the second thing the proof of it is the doing the same thing Only I shall call out as the Prophet Esay doth in the place cited who assoon as he had said Thy heart shall meditate terrors presently subjoyns where is the Scribe c. So while our heart is meditating of terrors of the thing we are speaking this day which God hath appointed wherein he will Judge the World c. Where is the Sadducee where the Atheist where the Disputer of this World What say they to this thing I. The Sadducee will tell you That there is no Resurrection neither Angel nor Spirit Act. XXIII 8. And would perswade us that Moses was of the same opinion because he speaks not of any such things in terminis in all his book It is a common received opinion among the Learned that the Sadducees refused all the Books of the Old Testament but only the five Books of Moses If they mean it absolutely I must confess my small reading hath not taught so far as to be satisfied in that But if they mean it with some qualification then I believe the thing is very true In such a qualified sense as to say the rest of the Jews refused the third part of the Bible which they call 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Christians render the word Hegiographa that is they refused to have it read in the Synagogue The Law and Prophets they read there every Sabbath Act. XIII 15. but admitted not the reading of Job Psalms Solmons books Daniel Lamentations Chronicles Ezra c. not so much out of the undervaluation of those books but because they accounted the other were sufficient So if you say the Sadducees admitted no other Books of the Old Testament to be read in their Synagogues on the Sabbath but only the books of Moses I doubt not but you speak very true but that they utterly rejected and made nothing of the rest of that Sacred Volume I am yet to seek for satisfaction And I suppose something may be said out of the ancient records of the Jews that might countenance the contrary but it is not now time and place to enter into such a discourse But you will say If they had them in their closets though not in their Synagogues If they read them though not there If they believed them how could they be ignorant of the resurrection Judgment to come and World to come of which there is so plain declaration in the rest of the Old Testament though not in Moses The answer is easie Because they had this principle that nothing is to be believed as a fundamental Article of Faith but what may be grounded in Moses The very Pharisees themselves did not far differ from them in this principle and I could produce a Pharisee in their own writings saying That if a man believed the Resurrection c. yet believed not that it was taught and grounded in the Law of Moses he should not be Orthodox Now why Moses did so obscurely intimate these great fundamentals in comparison of other parts of the Bible I shall not trouble you with discussing though very acceptable reasons may be given of it We find the Resurrection asserted by our Saviour out of Moses by one argument and we find it asserted by many arguments by the Pharisees against the Saducees in the Jews own Pandect and so we leave the Sadducees to take his answer and confutation there But II. Behold a worse then a Sadducee is here and that is a Christian
natural generation and that God would circumcise So was the Primitive institution of Baptism As it was used originally to admit Proselites so it is used in the Gospel to admit all Nations it was used then to denote washing from moral and legal pollution now under the Gospel to denote washing from natural and is of this everlasting use As washing in the Temple was a needful introduction into it so Christ ordained this that at our entrance into his Religion we might read our natural defilements and our cleansing from them Baptism is the Epitome of what comes to us from both Adams pollution from the first and purifying from the second These great doctrines are read in these primis elementis first elements the sum whereof is that if we intend to come into the Kingdom of Christ we must be purified 2. As it reads doctrines to us so it seals the truth of the promises It is a seal of the Covenant it is as a seal to a Deed. We put our seal two ways by believing and obeying God puts his three viz. by his oath Heb. VI. 17. by the blood of his Son and by the Sacraments These Sacraments are everlasting visible seals and hence appears the reason of their continuance Circumcision is a seal Rom. IV. 11. And he received the sign of circumcision a seal of the righteousness of the Faith How was it a seal of the righteousness of the Faith Not to seal Abrahams righteousness but Gods truth and therefore it is called his Covenant It seald that righteousness that is by Faith So baptism is a seal likewise in the nature of circumcision Observe how Circumcision and the Passover answer to Baptism and the Lords Supper Circumcision Passover Seals of the Righteousness by Faith Baptism Lords Supper Of the life by Faith Now this seal being imprinted upon all in their admission to the Church 't is as much as if God should have said you coming into the administration of the Covenant here is my mark that I will perform all I promise 3. There is an obligatory end of it to engage them that are baptized on their part As a Covenant is of mutual obligation and so are seals As by circumcision a Jew was made debtor to the Law Gal. V. 3. I testifie to every man that is circumcised that he is a debtor to the whole Law So Baptism makes him that receives it debtor to the Gospel See the Text for this and vers 20. Teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you It brings into the bond of the Covenant a man now becomes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 A son of the Covenant Now the equity of this obligation lies in two things First in Christs institution It is equal that he lay obligation on all that come to serve him And secondly in the equity of the things themselves that are required 4. There is a privilegial end of Baptism It brings into the number of the owned people It badged out some to escape the wrath to come Matth. III. 7. When he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadduces come to his baptism he said unto them O generation of Vipers who hath warned you to flee from the wrath to come God makes a plain difference betwixt the Church and Pagans There are promises providences to this which belong not to them Now this rite gives admission into that Society It makes Disciples so the Text speaks by this they are admitted into the atrium of the Temple into the Court of the Church and stand no longer without among the strangers As the Sichemites by circumcision came into Jacobs family and came under his Promises and Providences Baptism brings the baptised person into the condition of Ruth puts us under the wings of the Almighty II. Ruth 12. Having spoken something to the Apostles Commission and Work and particularly from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Disciple all Nations baptizing them observed how Baptism introduces into the School of Christ and upon this considered the nature of Baptism viz. that it is Doctrinal Sigillative Obligatory Privilegial I shall now make some Application on that and then proceed to the Form prescribed to be used in Baptism In the Name of the Father and of the Son c. Look back then in your thoughts upon the ends named and Observe hence I. The durableness of the Sacraments because these ends are durable Things of Divine Institution are as durable as their ends Both Sacraments now a days are at indifference nay some assert them needless As God complained of old that men made his Law a common thing so he may now take up the same complaint of his Sacraments And the reason is because men know not the nature of them But they rose with the Gospel and they must live with it because of such affinity betwixt them They hold forth the same doctrines with the Gospel and they are seals of the same promises As Circumcision and the Passover dured that Oeconomy so these Sacraments Baptism and the Lords Supper must indure as long as the Oeconomy of the Gospel and unless there be no Gospel or a new Gospel they must continue 1 Cor. XI 25. This Cup is the New Testament in my blood The New Testament in Christs blood must last with the New Testament And observe God would not lay by Circumcision and the Passover without other rites were brought in in their stead and one in the place of the other Baptism in the place of Circumcision the Lords Supper in the place of the Passover Let Anabaptists cavil and contend against this assertion as much as they will it is yet most true Christ laid down those and took up these and so one takes beginning at the end of the other as the two Testaments do and both like Cherubs wings reach from one side of the House of God to the other and meet in the middle Joshua's pillars in the water of Jordan and at Gilgal where the children of Israel ate the Passover must indure because the ends wherefore they were set up were to indure IV V Chapters of Joshua And so must the two Sacraments these monuments indure also because their ends indure viz. To seal Gods truth and our homage Learn O ye Candidates for the Ministry the perpetuity of Sacraments they are not for a moment they are not arbitrary It is sad to see what authority men take over the Sacraments Some Congregations have had none these fourteen years and what think these men of the Sacraments What light businesses indeed are they if men may thus dispose of them I wish God avenge not the quarrel of the seals of the Covenant And as he punished the Jews for suffering his Temple to lie waste I Hag. 9. so we may fear his punishments may light upon us for suffering his Sacraments to lie waste II. Hence we infer the lawfulness of admitting Infants to Baptism Look back to the three things last spoken of concerning the Sacraments that they
more and the poor shall not give less And now let us look over these three things again and consider what may be learned from them I will transpose a little these particulars and speak of the second first viz. I. The end and purpose for which this sum was given to wit as an acknowledgment and an owning that their lives and persons were in the hand of God and that to him they looked for their Preservation And therefore it was that they paid this sum for the ransom of their lives So that as the payment of this mony was a Duty so it was a Doctrine teaching them to own their depending upon God for their lives and beings So that hence we learn That every man is to own his dependance upon God for his life and being The Jews were taught it by their being bound to pay a yearly tribute to God for the preservation of their life and being and we taught it from their example And I speak to this subject the more willingly because the thing and the time do concur so fair together so that the subject we speak of is not only useful and necessary but seasonable and agreeable both to their time and ours Concerning their payment of this Pol-mony or dependance mony their own writers tell us that the Collectors of this Tax began upon the Collection of it the last month of their year and so went on gathering in the beginning of the new year That we are come to the last month nay the last week of our year doth very justly give us occasion to remember our preservation the year that is now gone over our heads and all the years of our life hitherto and to consider of that merciful and good Providence that hath preserved us all along those years And this and hardly a more seasonable discourse can we take up at this time than such an one as shall remind us and if it may be warm us with a feeling of our Dependence upon God for our preservation Need I to divide the Theme before us and prove apart That our Dependence is upon God for our preservation And That we are to be sensible of this Dependence We can hardly find a place in Scripture that proves the one but it proves both together and none there is hardly but if they acknowledge the truth of the thing that mens dependence is upon God for their preservation but they acknowledge also their sense of it and that they so own their preservation I might instance multitudes of places but do I need when there is not a holy man through all the Bible that speaks of his own preservation but he owns it to have been from God and shews himself to have been sensible of it Job X. 12. Thou hast given me life and thy visitation hath preserved my spirit Lam. III. 22. It is the Lords mercies that we are not consumed And Act. XXVI 22. Having obtained help of God c. There is not a person in Scripture that takes notice of the preserving of his life and person but he always turns it that way to own God the Author of it unless it be such a fool as he that bids Soul take thine ease c. or as he Is not this great Babylon that I have built c. or they that say To day or to morrow we will go into such a City and buy and sell and get gain and never mention God or his providence in the bargain I hope I need not prove that all our lives persons and the preservation of both are in the hand of God and at his disposal but I may sum up all in this challenge and appeal Dare any defie Gods Providence and Preservation and take upon you your own preservation and to maintain your life and person of your selves But let not such a thing be once mentioned among Christians but the great business is that Christians would become rightly sensible of their dependence upon God I cannot omit one thing in this Law about paying this half shekel viz. vers 14. that every one that was twenty years old and upward was to pay it And why then And why not before Not but that they that were under twenty years old were under the same preservation and had reason to acknowledge the same preservation but at twenty years of age they were come to that age as should be the age of discretion and that men should now consider under what tuition they lived and that then it was time to own it though folly and vanity of youth had not suffered them to do so before And twenty years of age was the time when they were in their prime and strength and flush and when it was the likeliest time to think of their own strength and vigor and that they stood upon their own subsistence Then and forward it was most seasonable to admonish them upon what it was that they subsisted and who it was that preserved them The acknowledgement that it is God that doth preserve our life and being may be of the Tongue only and nothing but words or bare conviction of the truth of the thing and but little more than words neither But a feeling acknowledgment of Gods preservation is such a thing as speaks it self by some evident demonstration It is the Apostles saying That saving faith worketh by Love we may say the like of Historical Faith if it work at all it worketh by some evidence or demonstration of action And such evidences or demonstrations in this case are various I. Such a person who owns and feelingly believes his dependence upon God for his preservation is careful to commit himself to Gods protection and his preserving providence the best he can We read of persons being under the wings of the Almighty and putting themselves under his wings and they are there because they put themselves there Psal. XCI 4. He shall cover thee with his feathers and under his wings shalt thou trust How comes he there He puts himself there by committing himself to Gods providence as he ought to do As Ruth did II. Chap 12. Psal. XXXVI 6 7. Thou savest man and beast How excellent is thy loving kindness O God therefore shall the sons of men put their trust under the shaddow of thy wings There is a general providence that preserves man and beast but a peculiar protection for them that put themselves under the shaddow of his wings Can we say that man is under Gods protection that never put himself under Gods protection Can we say God keeps that that was never committed to him Such an one as a Worldling an Epicure that minds not God nor his duty of committing himself to him Yes you will say for this man lives and is preserved as well as the best he is kept out of danger as well as the holiest he is in health wealth and a thriving condition as well as another man and therefore sure God keeps him as well as another
blessed for ever So that the great Angel Christ at the giving of the Law was the speaker and all the created Angels his silent Attendants And this Observation might be useful in some points of Divinity that Christ gave the Law as well as he gave the Gospel But Thirdly The Prophets and Ministers in Scripture phrase are usually called Angels Do I need to give instance Eccles. V. 6. Suffer not thy mouth to cause thy flesh to sin neither say before the Angel or Minister at the Temple that it is an error Mal. II. 7. The Priests lips should keep knowledge and they should seek the Law at his mouth for he is the Messenger or Angel of the Lord of Hosts And Chap. III. 1. Behold I send my Angel i. e. my messenger before thy face And to spare more you remember that in Revel I. ult The seven stars are the Angels or Ministers of the seven Churches So that the words before us may be reduced to this sense Ye received the Law by the disposition preaching and explaining of the Prophets and Ministers and have not kept it And to this sense speaks that Heb. II. 2. For if the word spoken by Angels that is Gods messengers the Prophets were stedfast and every transgression and disobedience received a just recompence of reward How shall we escape if we neglect so great salvation which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord. That is If the word in the mouth of the Prophets might not be transgressed but there was a just recompence of reward paid to the transgressor much more he must be paid that neglects the Salvation spoken by the Lord Christ. And to the like sense may that be taken in Gal. III. 19. The Law was added because of transgression being ordained disposed of preached by Angels i. e. Prophets and Ministers in the hand of a Mediator And this sense of Angels in the Text agrees very well with the words of Steven a little before Your Fathers persecuted and killed the Prophets the Lords Angels or Messengers and ye have received the Law by such Angels or Ministers but have not kept it For the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Angel in the Greek Tongue signifies any messenger among men as frequently as it does the Angels in Heaven And so taking all these constructions together the words do fairly lead us to consider what cause or reason God hath given men to keep his Law and Commandments but men will not keep them Some have written large and excellent Discourses concerning the equity and reasonableness of Christian Religion And how large a discourse might be made upon this particular in our Religion How it is agreeable to all the reason in the World to obey and keep Gods Commandments which he hath given The Socinian requires a natural reason for what is supernatural or else he must not believe it Because it cannot be demonstrated in Logick Philosophy Mathematicks how three should be one and one should be three therefore we must not believe that there are three Persons in the Trinity and but one God But the wiser and more solid discourse would be rather to shew a reason why we are to believe such a thing than to seek a reason why or how such a thing is For there may be a plain reason to believe an article of Faith the reason of which thing reason cannot fathom So it may be but a sawcy wild inquiry what reason God had to give such and such particular commands But it may be a pious and humble inquiry to search what reason we have to keep his Commandments now he hath given them I. And the first reason we meet withal in all regular method and order is because he hath given them therefore we should keep them Ye received the Law by the disposition of Angels therefore ye should have kept it The Command in it self does not only challenge our obedience of it but the very giving of it does also challenge it There is a bond in the giving as well as a bond in the Command it self viz. a bond of love and mercy that would impart his Will and Commands David in Psal. CXLVII ult accounts it an incomparable mercy that Israel had above other Nations That God made his Law known to Jacob and his statutes to Israel And dealt not so with any Nation besides neither had they knowledge of his Law And God himself instituted the Feast of Pentecost at that just time of the year when the Law was given that they might celebrate the Memorial of that great mercy as he had instituted the Feast of the Passover at that just time of the year when they were delivered out of Egypt that they might commemorate the memory of that mercy He would have them to own the giving of the Law an equal mercy with their delivery out of bondage And what was the treasure of the Ark or the precious things that were laid up there The two Tables and Pot of Manna The Pot of Manna that minded them of the merciful and miraculous food wherewithal the Lord fed their bodies and the two Tables which minded them of the divine and heavenly food of their Souls that Man liveth not by bread only but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God That passage is worthy a great deal of meditation Luke XII 47 48. He that knew his Masters will and did it not shall be beaten with many stripes But he that knew it not and committed things worthy of stripes shall be beaten with a few stripes Now whether do you think it better to know our Masters will or not to know it To have God to impart his Commands to us or not to impart them Herein it might seem better not to know his Commands because it we keep them not not knowing them there will follow the fewer stripes but the more if we know them and break them But this weighs the ballance down on the other side that it is impossible to avoid stripes if there be not the knowledge of Gods Commands it is possible to avoid them if there be knowledge More stripes indeed will be added if we keep them not but if we keep them no stripes at all If we should dispute this question whether God shewed more mercy in giving his Law and Commandments or in giving the Gospel and promises This might make some stand about the determination because though the promises are given of an infinite mercy yet there is no possibility of coming up to the attaining of the promises but in the way of the Commandments In the Promises God shews that he would do good to us and save us and in the Commandments he shews that he would have us to do good to our selves and save our selves Say not therefore that it was any severity in God to lay any such binding Commandments upon men acknowledge it mercy that he would make known his Will and Commandments to thee Wouldst thou
change places with a Heathen or Pagan that never heard of the Law and Commandments of God Dost thou not think it an infinite mercy that God hath revealed them to thee and laid them before thee In that very thing he shews that he would not that thou shouldst perish without the knowledge of his Law but that thou mightest know and keep his Commandments and live His Commandments are not bonds of iron and fetters of brass but they are the cords of men and the bonds of Love God gives them in mercy that we might know what he would have us to do and that we may do it and be blessed in the deed and this may be a second reason to urge our keeping of Gods Commandments viz. II. Because God gave them that we might keep them He gave them in mercy that we might keep them for our own good God gave them with this intent that men should keep them and that keeping them it might be well with them both here and ever He speaks this once and again himself Exek XX. 11. I gave them my statutes and shewed them my judgments which if a man do he shall ever live in them And Deut. XXX 15. I set before thee this day in giving thee my Commandments life and death blessing and cursing that thou mayest obtain the one and escape the other And observe his pathetical and affectionate expression to this purpose Deut. V. 29. O that there were such a heart in this people that they would fear me and keep my commandments always that it might be well with them and with their children for ever So that these two things are observable concerning the Law and Commandments of God First That the Commandments of the Law were given for a Gospel end that though the Law be the ministration of death and condemnation 2 Cor. III. yet the direct end of it was for life and salvation Gal. III. 24. It was our School master to bring us to Christ that we might be justified by faith The Antinomians sure little consider what injuriousness they offer to God when they say the Law to Israel was a Covenant of works as if God had given them a Covenant which should do them no good For by the Law how little could they be justified True indeed the Law is called his Covenant the two Tables the Tables of his Covenant but he means his Covenant of grace to which the Law aimed and directed And the Law was not a Covenant of works but a noble part of the administration of the Covenant of grace T is true that the Law killeth curseth condemneth but that is the first end of it not the last neither did God ordain it that it should only condemn and there end but by condemning it might drive men on to seek salvation Secondly That though the performing of the Law in one sense is impossible yet the keeping of the Law in another is not impossible It is impossible to perform the Law so exactly as to be justified by it yet t is not so impossible to keep the Law as to be saved in it Now what is it to keep the Law When a man makes it only and intirely his rule to walk by and as near as he can keeps from declining from it either to the right hand or left God never gave his Law to fallen man with intention that he should perfectly perform it when Adam did not who had power to have done it But he gave his Law to fallen man that he should make it his Law and that he should not walk lawless or after his own will but that the Law of God should be his Law and Rule And he that makes the commandments and Law of God his rule whereby he walks and keeps as close to that as he can this man keeps the Law of God though no man be able to perform it to justification Here then is a second inforcement to keep the Commandments of God because they were given us for that very purpose and there is a blessing and happiness in keeping them III. I might speak of the authority wherewith they were given and of the terror in which they were given fire and thunder c. Both of which speak the reason and obligation for our obeying them God commanded them and he requires obedience and he gave them in terror as intimating what must follow upon disobedience to them But I shall speak only to what the Text especially speaks viz. of his giving his Law and Commandments by the disposition of Angels i. e. Prophets and Ministers men like our selves You may remember that in Exod. XX. that when the people had heard God speak from Sinai in such dreadful terror they trembled and quaked and stood afar off And we are not able say they to hear this terrible voice of God any more if we do we shall die Take thou speaking to Moses the words from the mouth of God and speak thou to us Be thou the Angel or messenger of the Lord to us to tell us what his mind and commandment is and we can hear it but if the Lord himself speak thus to us any more we are but dead men And the Lord did accordingly first giving his Laws to Moses that he might give them to the people and afterwards raising up Prophets and Ministers among them that they might instruct them in his Laws and Commands And so in all succeeding generations So that his Commandments come now to us not in fire and thunder but in a still voice by men like unto our selves Thus God draweth near to men in mildness and softness that if it might be he might win upon them We Ambassadors of God beseech you in Christs stead that you would receive the Commandments of God and be saved IV. Lastly The reasonableness of Gods Commandments is reason strong enough to enforce our keeping of his Commandments and obedience to them for the keeping them Some of the Commands that God gave Israel in the Ceremonial Law were such as the reason of them was not so readily to be found out For why may not I wear linsey woolsey might a Jew say as well as other people Why may not I plow with an Ox and an Asse as well as other Nations do Why may not I eat such and such things good for diet as other countries do The reason of these commands and prohibitions lay deep and were not so easie to be discovered But God hath laid no such Commands upon us but whose very equity is not only a bond upon us to keep them but is a reason plain and apparent why they were given What more reasonable thing in the World than that we should all love God and our neighbour And what greater equity in the World than that we should believe in Christ deny the World mortifie corruption live holily and glorifie God and seek to save our own Souls Do we need to go to Heaven to fetch thence a reason
ye are of the murtherer Secondly The first man dying was Christ in figure as the first death that of Sacrifice was Christ in figure also The Jews say that when Cain killed his Brother he made wounds in his hands and feet Thirdly That Cain who was first born into the world should so miscarry So the first estate of Man miscarried Eve hoped well of him when she named him Cain saying I have gotten a man from the Lord or a man the Lord. But the first born miscarried And so Esau the first born lost his birth-right But to return to our subject He slew his Brother We may cry Murther Murther with a witness If it had been a stranger that had been slain or an enemy or one that had been too many in the world but a Brother an only Brother the only man in the world this vastly aggravates the crime Fratricide is horrid this without parallel or possibility of parallel It is justly said that he was of that Wicked one Else this story would have choaked all belief How think you was Adam amazed when he heard it but when he resolved it thus he is of him that murthered mankind this ceased his wonder From hence I raise this Doctrine How much devilishness can the Devil infuse into Mans Nature This story is set first after the Fall to shew how much of Devil breathed in our Nature and how far it may be enhanced to devilishness Seth was begotten in the image of Adam Cain of the Devil See against how many Divine and Humane Laws and bonds he did this Act. 1. It was besides reason There was room enough in the world for both It was not with them as it was afterwards with Lot and Abraham Gen. XIII 6. The Land was not able to bear them that they might dwell together Nor as it was after that with Jacob and Esau Chap. XXXVI 7. Their riches were more than that they might dwell together and the Land wherein they were strangers could not bear them because of their Cattel 2. It was contrary to reason 1. In that they should have been mutually helpful And 2. Why should not Abel live as well as he 3. It was contrary to Nature He was his Brother-twin with him 4. Contrary to the tender dealing of God 5. Contrary to all reason and Religion He slew him because his works were righteous As Caligula slew a man because he was a proper man But Cain was not alone I might shew as much Devilishness appearing in others as in Pharaoh Ahab Nero c. Men in all things like the Devil and Cain And the reasons of this are I. Because the Soul of Man is capable of all evil to all extremity Not only that Gen. VI. 5. that the wickedness of Man was great and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually but he is capable of all manner and degrees of evil Not only that in Matth. XV. 19. Out of the heart proceed evil thoughts Murthers Adulteries Fornications Thefts false-witness Blasphemies but these to the utmost extremity That in Rom. VII 18. In me that is in my flesh dwelleth no good thing is short of the utmost extremity by far 1. The Soul is large enough to hold all evil Immensity is part of the Image of God in it desires it hath never satisfied covetuousness voluptuousness never satisfied it is a gulph that never says Enough 2. The spawn of Original Sin contains all sin in it As a spark is enough to consume all if fuelled As the Mud after the overflowing of Nilus produceth all Monsters And the Leprosie spreads all over if let alone Consider these three things of our Nature First It being contrary to God contains all evil as he all good It is a question in the Schools whether sin is contrary to Gods Nature or Will Our sinful nature is contrary to both To his Will 1 Thess. IV. 3. For this is the will of God even your sanctification To his Nature He light but we are darkness He holiness but we sin and impurity Other Creatures are not contrary to God but divers and different from him but sinful Creature is contrary Our nature as evil is contrary to the Divine Nature Our misery is not only in the loss of the Image of God but in the obtaining the contrary Image Secondly There is nothing in our nature to limit its breaking out to evil It is an untamed Heifer will bear no yoke It is like waters running downwards without bounds Nay there is that in us that breaks all bounds as the stirring of Conscience the Motions of the Spirit Education Laws all bounds but those of Grace Our principle is to please self to have our own Wills Now this consists of an hundred unsatiable gulphs to satisfie Pride Covetousness Envy Lust. Self Conjures up these Devils but there is nothing in us to conjure them down again The body breeds a disease but can master it but the Soul cannot because it is overcome with content in its disease Thirdly These distempers of our Nature are boundless in themselves No bottom no stop but Grace or Death II. Another reason how it comes to pass that there is so much Devilishness in some Mens nature is because the Devil is still urging and never saith Enough As we are ever stirring evil in our selves so he is hatching evil in us We read of some that were taken captive by him at his will 2 Tim. II. 26. But I will not insist any longer on the proof Let us consider in the next place what sins are most devilish and how men come up to them James III. 15. This wisdom descendeth not from above but is earthly sensual devilish There are degrees of sin first earthly then sensual and lastly devilish The Devil himself is without an earthly mind and without sensuality He is not covetous he offers Christ all the Kingdoms of the world Matth. IV. Nor is he lascivious They misconstrue Gen. VI. 2. that thought from thence that the Angels lay with Women Nor is he luxurious No the Devil flies at higher game to defy God and damn souls All sin bears his stamp but some his picture As namely these that follow 1. Pride and to be puffed up against God and his charge and bounds which he hath set This is the Devils peculiar sin See 1 Tim. III. 6. Not a Novice lest being lifted up with pride he fall into the condemnation of the Devil 2. Hatred and cruelty Satan is an Enemy a Murtherer Joh. VIII 44. a roaring Lion and devours them that serve him 3. Enmity against Righteousness and the ways of God See vers 10. of this Chapter His name is Satan that is an Enemy to what is good 4. Lying and falshood That appeared sufficiently in the story of the Fall And in Joh. VIII 44. He is a Lyar and the Father of it Now are not some as devilish as the Devil himself in these 1. In Pride Some will be
Yea he was under the obligation of the Ceremonial Law and that in three respects p. 1037. Christs lineage or discent was most of younger Brothers p. 1089 1090. Why Christ was Baptised p. 1125. Christ conformed to many things received and practised in the Jewish Church and civil converse in several instances p. 1137 1139. Christ sets himself against them that set themselves against Religion p. 1164. Christ sending his Gospel bound the Devil from his former abominable cheating p. 1171. He delivered the Law on Mount Sinai and is called the Angel by Stephen the Proto-Martyr upon that account this proves him to be God against the Arian and Socinian p. 1229. He was sanctified by his own blood p. 1254. Christs blood called the blood of the Covenant and why p. 1254. He suffered as much as God could put him to suffer short of his own wrath p. 1255. The wrath of God not inflicted upon Christ in his sufferings p. 1255. His victory over Sin and Satan in his sufferings was by his holiness not by his God-head p. 1255 1256. The obedience of Christ made his blood justifying and saving p. 1255. His obedience conquered Satan and satisfied God p. 1256. He died meerly out of obedience p. 1257. He was sanctified by his own blood to the Office of Mediator p. 1254 1257. Acceptance with God and coming to him is only through Christ. p. 1261 1262. Christs obedience does not dissolve the obedience of a Christian. p. 1263. What it is to be separate from Christ. p. 1297. The Church of the Jews was only a Child under age till Christ came p. 1334. His descent into Hell the improper meaning as to what the Church of Rome understands by it p. 1341 to 1347. Where was the Soul of Christ when separate from the body p. 1344. His victory and triumph over Devils what p. 1345 1346. His Kingdom began at his Resurrection p. 1345 1346. His descent into Hell is supposed by some to be the Torments he suffered on the Cross. p. 1347. He did not undergo the anger or wrath of God but the Justice of God in his sufferings p. 1348 1349 1350. It was impossible Christ should suffer the Torments of Hell or be in the case of the damned p. 1350. His expiring upon the Cross considered both in it self and in the manner of it Page 1354 Christian Churches were modelled by our Saviour very near the Platform of the Jewish Synagogue worship 1041 1139 Church of the Jews Christ had a peculiar care of the Jewish Church though but too much corrupted while it was to continue a Church and therefore sends the Leper to shew himself to the Priests p. 165 166. How it may be said to have been a National Church p. 1036. It was only a Child under age till Christ came p. 1334. Wherein its Childhood did consist 1334 Churches in Houses what 794 795 Churches Christian Churches under the Gospel were by Christ himself and his Apostles modelled very like to the Platform of the Synagogues and Synagogue worship under the Law proved in several instances p. 1041 1139. The several Ages and Conditions of God's Church from the beginning of the World p. 1088 Churches in the Apostles days had many Ministers belonging to each and the reason of this 1156 1157 Circumcision at it Children received their Names p. 387. Circumcision as given by Moses gives a right understanding of the Nature of the Sabbath p. 557. Peter was a Minister of the Circumcision among the Hebrews p. 741. An Israelite may be a true Israelite or a Priest a true Priest without Circumcision 760 761 Cities of Refuge their Number and Names p. 47 48. Cities of the Levites the Lands about them large called their Suburbs these Cities were Cities of Refuge and Universities p. 86. A great City was such an one as had a Synagogue in it p. 87. Not any thing troublesom or stinking were to be near a City p. 87. Cities Towns and Villages how distinguished p. 333. 334. What number of Officers in Cities and what their Places and Employments 638 Cleansing what the Leper was to do for his cleansing 165 Climax of the Tyrians what place 61 Cock-crowing at what time p. 262. Whether there were Cocks at Jerusalem being sorbid by their Canons p. 262 The Jewish Doctors distinguish Cock-crowing into first second and third 597 Collections were made by the Jews in forrain Nations for the poor Rabbins dwelling in Judea 792 Comforter was one of the Titles of the Messiah 600 Coming of Christ in the Clouds in his Glory and in his Kingdom are used for the Day of his Vengeance on the Jews 626 Coming to Christ and believing in him how distinguished 1261 1262 Commandments or Commands Commands of the second Table chiefly injoyned in the Gospel and why p. 1064 1114 1115. God will not have his Commands dallied and trifled withal p. 1227. Why we are to keep the Commands of God p. 1130. The Commandments of the Law were given for Gospel ends 1231 Communion of the Jews what and how made p. 768. Christ had Communion with the National Church of the Jews in the publick Exercise of their Religion proved by many instances 1036 1037 1039 1040 1041 Confession of sins at the execution and death of Mulefactors say the Jews did expiate for their sins 1275 Confusion of Languages was the casting off of the Gentiles and the confusion of Religion 644 Conjuring so skilful were the Jews in Conjuring Enchantments and Sorceries that they wrought great Signs and Wonders and many villanies thereby 244 Conscience how to clear the state and nature of it when it is doubting some heads for such an undertaking hinted p. 1054 The great power of conviction of Conscience p. 1082 1803 1804. Conscience is an assurance given by God of the last Judgment 1104 1119 Consistories that were of more note out of the Talmud 85 Consolation of Israel It was an usual Oath among the Jews Let me see the Consolation or Let me see the Consolation of Israel 393 Conviction of Conscience the great power of it p. 1082 1083 1084 Corban signifies a thing devoted and dedicated to sacred use p. 201. Corban was the Treasury there was a Corban of Vessels or Instruments and a Corban of Mony p. 299. The Corban Chests how these were imployed to buy the dayly Sacrifice and Offerings p. 300 301. The Corban Chamber p. 300 301. The Corban Chests and the Treasury were in the Court of the Women p. 301. Corban a Gift what 345 Corinth where seated 737 Covenant the blood of it put for the blood of Christ. 1254 Covenant of Grace Souls raised in the first and second Resurrection by the vertue of this but not alike p. 1235. The Tenor and vertue of this Covenant distinguished 1236 Covetousness called an evil Eye 162. What it caused Balaam to do what he got by it and how many Israelites were destroyed by it p. 1181. The sad fruits of Covetousness and Apostasle 1181 1182 Councellors Chamber
Gygantick Canaanites for the use of war 88 89 Dependance upon God for Life and Being is to be owned and acknowledged by all good Christians 1205 1206 Descent of Christ into Hell the improper meaning as to what the Church of Rome understands by it p. 1341 1347. His Descent into Hell is supposed by some to be the Torments he suffered on the Cross. Destruction of Jerusalem is frequently exprest in Scripture as if it were the Destruction of the whole World 244 Devil how he is the Prince of this World p. 591 592. The sin of the Devil what it was p. 198. How he deceived the Nations or Heathen before the Gospel p. 1171. How when and why and how long let loose by Christ. p. 1172 1173 1174. He is called the Angel of death by the Jews p. 1299. The end for which Christ bound the Devil a Thousand years p. 1233. The Gospel was the chain with which he was bound p. 1233 The Devil is denominated That wicked one why 1306 Devilishness how much thereof the Devil can infuse into Mans nature with the reason of it 1308 1309 Devils were cast out by one that did not follow Christ how possible p. 346. Devils called Angels how Saints shall Judge them p. 754. Angels put for Devils 773. The Souls of Men are in a better state than Devils p. 1302 The sin of the Devils is wretched beyond pardon 1305 Dew of Christ is his quickening Power 691 Dialect the Dialect of the Galileans differed much from the Dialect of the Jews 78 79 Didrachma Tribute mony two things perswade that it was the half Shekel paid yearly in the Temple 211 212 Diet a Diet was thirty Miles 319 Diocletian the Emperor was once Diclot the keeper of Hogs 7 Dipping in Baptism indeavoured to be laid aside because it caused the Women of Galilee to grow barren p. 121 122. Why sprinkling was used in stead of dipping 121 Disciple and Singular what They are terms sometimes confounded and sometimes distinguished 433 Disciples of Christ mentioned by the Talmudists p. 171. Why they were twelve and for what end they were chosen 174 Disciples or Learners after the days of Rabban Gamaliel did use to sit while they were instructed p 395 396. They had power to ask the Doctors any questions as they went along in their Expositions and Lectures 396 Discoursing the dead discoursing one among another and also with those that were alive was the opinion of the Jews 457 Diseases grievous attributed usually by the Jews to evil Spirits p. 211. Diseases were supposed by the Jews to be inflicted by the Devil 441 Disputes the power and will of God being well understood and submitted to take off abundance of carnal Atheistical Disputes 1320 1321 Divinity the Mystery of it not contrary to reason how to be understood 1103 Divorces what among the Jews p. 146 147. A Bill of Divorce its manner of giving with a Copy of such a Bill how confirmed how delivered p. 147 148. Christ permits not Divorce except in the case of Adultry 148 Doctors of the Law were of several sorts p. 421. What 434 Dogs and Swine were forbidden the Jews with the Reasons thereof p. 168. Dogs put for Gentiles or Heathens Page 202 Doors and Gates lying on the North-side of the Temple what 32 Dositheus or Dosthes was a famous Seducer of the Samaritans 483 504 Dowery in the donation of it the Galileans differed from the Jews 77 78 Drachm what 468 Dreams none in the World more fond of dreams than the Jews using art to make themselves dream and nice Rules of interpreting dreams p. 243. Dreams some were strange and odd 1257 Drink the Jewish Doctors say that to drink a Quart of Wine makes one drunk so much every one of them drank in their sacred Feasts judge then how soberly they carried it in those Feasts if they mingled not much Water with their Wine p. 61. This is proved in Rabban Gamaliel 61 Drinking and Eating used frequently in a metaphorical sense by the Jews p. 553 554. Drinking the Blood and eating the Flesh of Christ is of necessity Metaphorical 553 554 Drunk Vide Drink Dumb such Persons were unfit to Sacrifice c. 210 384 Dust white Dust for Potters Clay c. 12 Dust of the Feet what it was to shake it off 179 Dying called Martyrdom for others to save their Country what 326 E. EARTH and Heaven made by God and wherefore he made them 1321 Eating and Drinking commonly used in a Metaphorical sense by the Jews 553 554 Eating the Flesh and drinking the Blood of Christ must of necessity be Metaphorically understood 553 554 Ebal how far from Jordan p. 79 80. Ebal Mount its situation 505 Fedippa formerly called Chezib and Achzib the name of a place 61 Edom rendred Rome 292 Edomites rendred Romans 292 Egypt was full of Jews there they had a Temple and all their Offices and Ordinances 111 112 Elder a Title proper to Saint John 337 Elders Chief Priests and Scribes how distinguished p. 469. Elders ordained by whom and how p. 686. They were to judge in Pecuniary Affairs 755 Elect what it signified and who they were 1146 Election admits not of magis and minus 1147 Elements used for Mosaick Rites 626 Elias the frequent appearance of him we meet with in the Writings of the Jews were either Stories or Diabolical Apparitions p. 129. His coming how vain the expectation of it was among the Jews the Ends also of his expected coming as they propose them what p 209 c. They looked for his coming before the Messias p. 210. Elias put for John the Baptist. 382 383 Elijah put for John the Baptist. 382 383 Elizabeth why she hid her self when with child 1220 Elymas and Barjesus the reason of the two Names for the same Person and what they both signifie 687 1192 Emims what 363 Emmaus six Furlongs from Jerusalem p. 42. What p. 293. It was from Jerusalem seven Miles and an half the same with Nicopolis p. 371. It s situation p. 372 373 Encoenia or the Feasts of Dedication So the Feast of Dedication among the Jews why called Lights It was kept for eight days all over the Land Page 576 577 578 Enchantments there were hardly any People in the World that more used Enchantments than the Jews p. 243. Which consisted in Amulets Charms Mutterings and Exorcisms p. 243. So skilful were they in Conjurings Enchantments and Sorceries that they wrought great signs and wonders and many Villanies by them p. 244. Hence arose false Christs p. 244. Some sort of Hereticks used Enchantments or Sorceries to cause Men to follow them 497 End and Beginning as referring to things to be debated or explained what p. 565 566. End of all things and of the World put for the end of the Jewish State 1074 Engedi is ill placed in the Maps p. 7. Engedi is Hazezon Tamar 296 Enmity why the Lord put Emnity between Man and Devil 1171 Ephraim a Town so called p. 49